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THE  THEATRE: 


AN  ESSAY   UPON   THE   NON-ACCORDANCY  OF  STAGE-PLAYS   WITH 
THE    CHRISTIAN    PROFESSION. 


JOSIAH  W.  LEEDS. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

No.   528   WALNUT  STREET. 

PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR. 

1884. 


I 

\       \        HAR 


THE  THEATRES  ARE  FOUNTAINS  AND  MEANS  OF  VICE.  I  CAN 
HARDLY  THINK  THERE  IS  A  CHRISTIAN  UPON  EARTH  WHO  WOULD 
DARE  TO  BE  SEEN  THERE  IF  THE  NATURE  AND  EFFECTS  OF  THE 
THEATRE  WERE  PROPERLY  SET  BEFORE  HIM."— yO#W  NEWTON. 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


ALTHOUGH  most  of  the  following  essay  recently  appeared 
in  a  weekly  periodical  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  the  writer 
had  likewise  in  view,  in  preparing  it,  its  probable  re-issue  as 
a  tract,  and  circulation  over  a  much  wider  field.  He  has 
since  been  encouraged  by  many  to  carry  out  that  purpose. 

It  will  be  admitted  that  some  treatises  upon  the  theatre 
exhibit  the  abounding  wickedness  of  the  stage  with  so  much 
fidelity  that,  although  very  useful  in  certain  hands,  they  are 
not  exactly  fitted  for  reading  aloud  in  families  or  for  perusal 
by  the  young  generally.  Indeed,  they  may  even  stimulate  a 
morbid  interest  in  place  of  inciting,  as  desired,  sentiments 
of  repugnance  against  and  abhorrence  for  the  detailed  evil. 
The  writer  has  been  solicitous  in  the  following  pages  to  avoid 
this  objection.  But,  though  less  full  in  the  direction  pointed 
out  than  some  others,  it  is  hoped  that  this  essay  will  prove 
of  definite  value  in  that  it  deals  with  sundry  aspects  of  the 
subject  which  are  usually  either  not  at  all  or  not  much  con- 
sidered in  treating  of  the  play-house  and  its  perils. 

Philadelphia,  Seventh  Month,  1884. 


The  Theatre  of  the  Past. 

In  his  treatise  De  Spectaculis,  that 

early  Christian  writer,  Tertullian,  says:  "I  heard  lately  a  novel  defense  of 
himself  by  a  certain  play-lover.  'The  sun,'  said  he — 'nay,  God  Himself — 
looks  down  from  heaven  on  the  show,  and  no  pollution  is  contracted.' 
Yes,  and  the  sun,  too,  pours  down  his  rays  into  the  common  sewer  with- 
out being  defiled.  But  lie  [God]  looks  on  robbers,  too;  He  looks  on 
falsehoods,  and  adulteries,  and  frauds,  and  idolatries,  and  these  same 
shows;  and  precisely  on  that  account  we  will  not  look  on  them  lest  the 
All- Seeing  see  us." 


The  Theatre  of  the  Present. 

Says  Bishop  Coxe,  of  Western  New 

York :  "All  that  theory  can  adduce  in  defense  of  a  possible  drama 
vanishes  before  the  gross  sensuality  of  the  actual  stage.  The  voice  of 
Christian  antiquity  denounces  as  anti-Christian  the  whole  system  of  the 
play-house,  and  the  very  heathen  lash  as  obscene  and  shameful,  scenes 
which  are  exhibited  to  '  young  men  and  maidens '  in  New  York  and  all 
over  the  land.  'I  go  to  the  theatre  myself,'  said  a  young  man  to  me 
lately,  'but  I  thought  the  devil  himself  must  have  laughed  when  he  saw  a 
communicant  of  the  Church  there.'  " 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

The  scope  of  this  essay, 8 

Rome  arid  Athens  condemn  the  thea- 
tre       9 

Not     tolerated     by    primitive     Chris- 
tians,   11 

Testified  against  by  many  Councils,  .  .  13 
Prynne  upon  reforming  the  stage,  .  .  13 

Testimony  of  Hannah  More, 14 

The  stage  not  a  school  of  morals,  ...  16 
Adverse  testimony  of  play-actors,  .  .  .  18 

Gibber  and  Dumas, 18 

Booth,  Macready,  and  Knowles,     ...    19 

Kemble  and  Siddons, 20 

Dispassionate  testimony  of  Montague 

Stanley, 21 

A  changed  American  actor, 22 

The  sorrow  and  reparation  of  Judson,  .  23 
Timely  counsel  to  a  would-be  actress,  .  24 
Moral  loss  to  play-actors  themselves,  .  25 

Remorse  of  a  dying  tragedian 26 

Evil  transferred  to  its  impersonator,     .    27 
Figaro's  opinion  of  the  actresses'  call- 
ing,      28 

The  "  Passion  Play  "  of  Salmi  Morse,   .    28 
Experience  and  views  of  J.  M.  Buck- 
ley,      29 


A  formal  plea  for  the  theatre,    .   .   .    .    o2 

The  plua  of  respectability, 32 

Ministerial   "staginess"   and   Sunday- 
school  fiction 33 

The  legitimate  stage  examined,     ...    34 
The  stage  us  existing  under  a  law  of 

degeneracy, 35 

Estimate  by  Wesley,  Tillotson,  Hale,  .    35 
Estimate    by    Wilberforce,    Rousseau, 

Rush, 35 

Clarkson    on   Quakers    and    the    the- 
atre,    36 

Play  acting    specially    condemned    be- 
cause of  its  violating  the  truth,  ...    37 
Bernard    and  Rousseau    against   false 

frenzies, 38 

Profanity  of  simulated  prayer,   ....    39 
Elizabeth  Fry  renounces  the  theatre,  .    39 

Experience  of  Mary  Capper, 41 

Experience  of  Christine  Majolier,     .   .    42 
Attending  the  opera  gives  countenance 

to  the  ballet,    .   . 43 

Woman's  appearance  on  the  stage  did 

not  reform  it, 44 

The  pious  Xonna  no  theatre-goer,     .   .    45 
The  theatre  an  inciter  to  crime,    ...    45 
V 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


The  agency  of  pernicious  literature,  .  46 
Connection  between  juvenile  pranks 

and  overt  crime, ' .   .   .    .    48 

Juvenile  masqueraders, 49 

Faithful  testifying  against  pernicious 

literature  needed, 51 

Absence  of  parental  restraint,   ....    52 

Wise  and  unwise  correctives, 54 

Receiving    the    proceeds  of  theatrical 

entertainments, 55 

U.  S.  Congress  of  1778  against  the  the- 
atre,     56 

Suppression  of  the  theatre  in  England,  57 
Stage-playing  forbidden  during  the 

plague, 58 

The  theatre  not  wanted  in  early  Penn- 
sylvania,     59 

The  theatre  curse  in  Philadelphia,  .  .  61 
The  theatre's  attraction  in  Berlin,  .  .  62 
"  Sunday  "  theatre-going  iu  Chicago,  .  66 


PAGE 

Cincinnati  and  the  lesson  of  its  calami- 
ties,      67 

Seriousness  of  the  present  situation,  .  .  70 
Hospitality  versus  theatre  visiting,  .  .  71 
Responsibility  of  the  professing 

Church 72 

Stage  "mysteries"  of  the  Middle  Ages,  72 
Havergal  on  church  ornamentation,  .  74 
Holy-days  occasions  for  excess,  ....  75 

Church  theatricals, 76 

The  church  sociable  a  forerunner  of  un- 
seemly entertainments, 79 

The  Church  walking  with  the  world,  .    80 
Deadening  effects  of   these  entertain- 
ments,     82 

The  problem  briefly  stated, 83 

Three  witnesses  to  holy  fidelity.  ...  83 
Two  examples  to  follow  in  dealing  with 

the  theatre, 84 

A  safe  conclusion  recommenaea,   ...    85 


THE  THEATRE. 

It  was  told  me  by  a  Friend  that  a  certain  person  with 
whom  he  was  well  acquainted  in  his  younger  years,  hav- 
ing made  an  appointment  to  meet  one  of  his  associates 
at  a  theatre  entrance,  was  so  struck  by  the  usher's  itera- 
tion of  "This  way  to  the  pit!  This  way  to  the  pit!" 
that,  appalled  at  the  peril  to  which  he  was  exposing  his 
soul,  he  hastily  left  the  place,  and  was  never  afterward 
seen  at  such  a  resort.  I  have  jhought  that  no  argu-  \ 
ment  more  convincing  can  be  offeredin  opposition  y 
To  theatre-gomg^  none_jriore  likely  to  impress  us 
with  its  debasing  tendency yjjggp^yfcjj^eh^ma^^  be 
found  in  simply  scanning  the  countenances  and  observ- 
ing the  demeanor  of  the  crowd  as  they  leave  one  of  our 
play-houses  of  the  popular  sort.  We  are  morally  certain 
that  these  people  have  not  "  been  with  Jesus,"  that  they 
have  not  been  employed  "  to  the  glory  of  God,"  but 
rather  that,  walking  in  the  way  of  sinners  and  in  the 
counsel  of  the  ungodly,  they  have  cast  in  their  lot  with 
those  who  "  go  down  into  the  pit." 

Now,  we  in  the  city  are  surrounded  by  multitudes  of 
the  frequenters  of  such  places  ;  we  are  sure  that  the  souls 
of  these  people  are,  in  the  Almighty's  estimation,  of 
equal  value  with  our  own,  and,  although  as  a  religious 
society  we  have  a  clear  testimony  against  the  play- 
house, and  our  membership  as  a  whole  is  nearly  free 

7  ' 


8  THE   THEATRE. 

from  countenancing  such  resorts,  yet  we  will  not  have 
done  our  duty  in  this  particular  unless,  showing  our- 
selves alive  to  the  magnitude  of  the  evil,  and  following 
the  counsel  of  the  apostle  Jude  concerning  those  who 
"  walk  after  their  own  ungodly  lusts,"  we  do  our  part  in 
faithfully  "  pulling  them  out  of  the  fire."  Said  the  late 
William  Evans  in  his  journal  (1849) :  "  The  kingdom  of 
Satan  is  gaining  ground  in  this  land,  and  if  those  who 
consider  themselves  lovers  of  religion  slacken  their 
watchfulness  and  their  resistance  to  wrong  things,  the 
tide  of  compliance  must  gain  a  powerful  ascendency  over 
the  morals  of  the  people  at  large." 

It  will  be  the  scope  of  this  essay  to  show  the  adverse 
estimation  in  which  stage-plays  have  been  held  by  the 
best  of  men  of  ancient  and  modern  times,  and  how  local 
communities  and  States  have,  in  very  self- 
defense,  forbidden  them;  that  many  actors 
themselves,  conceding  the  demoralizing  character  of  their 
occupation,  have  united  in  condemning  the  plays,  whilst 
others  of  them — apologists  for  the  stage — have  been 
unable  successfully  to  defend,  as  they  have  likewise  re- 
peatedly failed  in  the  effort  to  reform,  it,  seeing  that  it 
"  exists  only  under  a  law  of  degeneracy ;"  that  an  invari- 
able accompaniment  of  stage-plays,  and  that  which  estab- 
lishes the  constant  trend  to  degeneracy,  is  the  dissimula- 
tion and  violation  of  truth  involved  in  the  acting ;  that 
the  personal  experience  (to  be  briefly  detailed)  of  some 
righteous  people  of  our  own  time  is  very  confirming  in 
that  it  clearly  shows  the  wanton  and  unsatisfying  char- 


The  scope  of  this 
essay. 


THE   THEATRE.  9 

acter  of  such  and  similar  pleasures ;  that  an  inevitable 
result  of  theatre-going  is  the  corruption  of  youth,  and,  as 
consequents,  law-breaking  and  overt  crime ;  but  that  to 
pernicious  reading  and  to  general  negligence  of  parental 
restraint  and  training  are  to  be  largely  referred  the 
'growth  of  these  depraving  tendencies  ;  that  many  of  our 
American  cities,  following  the  custom  of  the  capitals  of 
Europe  in  tolerating  stage-plays  and  amusements  gener- 
ally on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  are  adding  iniquity  to 
iniquity  and  inviting  the  righteous  judgments  of  the 
Almighty  on  account  thereof;  and  finally,  that  the  pro- 
fessing Church  of  our  day,  through  countenancing  (under 
cloak  of  religion)  a  great  variety  of  worldly  entertain- 
ments— as  sociables,  feasts,  bazars,  tableaux,  dancing — 
has  not  only  weakened  the  ancient  testimony  of  con- 
demnation against  the  theatre,  but  by  becoming  in  effect 
the  world's  ally,  has  made  easy  the  way  of  multitudes  to 
resort  to  it. 

An  English  writer  of  last  century,  Arthur  Bedford* 
cites  the  following  concerning  the  theatre  in  ancient 
Athens  and  Rome.  Quoting  from  Plu-  Rome  and  A{hens 
tarch,  he  says  that  the  consequences  of  concemn  the  theatre, 
the  corrupt  plays  in  Athens  were  severely  felt  in  getting 
the  people's  money  as  well  as  in  demoralizing  them  ; 
that  inspectors  were  appointed  for  its  better  regulation, 
but  this  plan  not  succeeding,  a  law  was  enacted  that 

*  A  Serious  Remonstrance  in  behalf  of  the  Christian  Religion  against  the  Horrid  Blas- 
phemies and  Impieties  which  are  s*ill  used  in  the  English  Play-Houses,  to  the  great 
dishonoring  of  Almighty  God,  and  in  contempt  of  the  Statutes  of  this  Realm.  By  Arthur 
Bedford.  London,  1719. 


10  THE   THEATRE. 

common  actors  should  be  reputed  infamous.  At  last 
the  evil  became  so  serious  that  the  theatre  was  totally 
suppressed.*  Bedford  adds:  "  How,  then,  will  they  rise 
up  in  judgment  against  us  and  condemn  us  if  we  are 
remiss  in  this  matter."  Following  Tertullian,  he  says  : 
"  When  the  plays  were  corrupted  in  heathen  Rome,  a 
very  early  law  was  made  against  them,  in  which  they 
were  declared  infamous  ;  and  it  was  enacted  that  no 
actor  should  be  admitted  to  the  Court,  the  Bar,  or  the 
Senate,  and  should  also  be  incapable  of  any  military  or 
other  honor  or  esteem  :  And,  therefore,  when  God  enters 
into  judgment  for  these  things,  will  it  not  be  more  tol- 
erable for  them  than  it  will  be  for  us  ?" 

"  The  Lacedaemonians,"  says  Collier,f  also  on  the 
authority  of  Plutarch,  "  were  remarkable  for  the  wisdom 
of  their  laws,  the  sobriety  of  their  manners,  and  their 
breeding  of  brave  men — this  government  would  not 
endure  the  stage  in  any  form  nor  under  any  regulation." 

The  citizens  of  ancient  Marseilles,  we  are  told,  would 
admit  no  stage-plays  into  their  city,  lest  their  filthiness 
should  corrupt  their  youth. 

Xenophon,  Seneca,  Tacitus,  Plato,  Ovid,  were  among 
the  noted  Greeks  and  Romans  who  raised  their  voices 

*  '•  When  tragedy  and  comedy  were  first  enacted  at  Athens,  they  were  soon  abolished 
by  public  authority  as  bein^  enervating  ;  and  among  the  Romans,  so  cautious  were  they 
of  permitting  them  to  be  frequent,  that  a  theatre,  when  occasionally  erected,  was  not 
allowed  to  continue  above  a  prescribed  number  of  days  " — Witherspoon. 

It  may  be  added  that,  upon  the  score  of  public  morality,  the  first  stone  theatre  among 
the  Romans  was  pulled  down  when  nearly  finished,  B.  C.  155. 

f  A  Short  Vi;:w  of  the  Immorality  and  Profaneness  of  the  English  Stage :  together 
with  the  Sense  of  Aatiqu'.ty  upon  this  Argument.  By  Jeremy  Collier.  London,  1698. 


THE   THEATRE.  II 

against  the  theatre  as  a  school  of  vice,  a  corrupter  of 
youth,  and  the  disgrace  of  those  nations.  And  when 
theatrical  shows  were  introduced  by  Herod  into  Jeru- 
salem, Josephus  spoke  of  them  in  strong  terms  of  repro- 
bation, as  "  tending  to  corrupt  the  morals  of  the  Jewish 
nation,  to  bring  the  people  into  love  with  Pagan  idolatry, 
and  to  throw  contempt  on  the  law  of  Moses." 

Respecting  the  belief  and  general  practice  of  the  Primi- 
tive Christians  hereupon,  Milner,  the  Church  historian, 
testifies  :  "  A  Christian  renouncing  the  pomps  and  vani- 
ties of  this  wicked  world,  and  yet  fre- 
quenting the  play-house,  was,  with  the 


Stage  plays  not  tol- 
erated by  the  Primi- 


tive Christians. 

Christians  of  the  first  three  centuries,  a 

solecism.     The  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  during  those 

centuries,  never  admitted  those  amusements  at  all." 

A  well-known  but  somewhat  rare  work  against  stage- 
plays  is  Edward  Prynne's  Histrio  Mastix,  a  book  of  more 
than  one  thousand  pages,  which  was  published  in  Lon- 
don in  the  time  of  Charles  the  Second  (1663).  It  is  a 
treatise  of  invaluable  authority  on  the  subject.  The  fol- 
lowing are  some  of  this  writer's  citations  from  the  early 
Christian  fathers  in  opposition  to  the  theatre  : 

TERTULLIAN  :  "  Stage  plays  are  the  pomps  of  the  devil, 
against  which  we  have  renounced  in  our  baptism."  He 
also  styles  the  play-house  "  the  devil's  church." 

CLEMENT,  of  Rome,  calls  stage-plays  "  the  pomps  of 
idols  and  spectacles  of  the  devil,"  and  hence  strenuously 
cautions  all  Christians  to  shun  and  avoid  them. 

CYRIL,  of  Jerusalem  :     "  The  devil's  pomp  which  we 


12  THE    THEATRE. 

renounce  in  baptism  are  those  spectacles  or  plays  in 
theatres,  and  all  other  vanities  of  this  kind  from  which 
the  holy  man  of  God,  desiring  to  be  freed,  saith, — '  Turn 
away  mine  eyes  from  beholding  vanity.'  " 

AUGUSTINE  gives  them  the  same  titles  as  the  foregoing, 
and  decries  the  faithlessness  of  professing  Christians  in 
"  g°in&  one  while  into  the  church  to  pray,  and  after 
awhile  running  to  the  play-house  to  cry  out  impudently 
with  stage-players." 

CHRYSOSTOM,  the  eloquent  preacher,  is  very  outspoken, 
calling  stage-plays  "the  impure  food  of  the  devil,"  and 
play-houses  his  conventicles,  and  so  zealous  was  he 
against  them  that  he  avers  (perhaps  too  confidently) :  "  I 
will  never  give  over  preaching  until  I  have  dissipated 
and  rent  asunder  [this  theatre-going]  ;  that  so  the  as- 
sembly of  the  Church  may  be  made  pure  and  clean,  freed 
from  its  present  filthiness,  and  enjoy  eternal  life  here- 
after, by  the  grace  and  mercy  of  Jesus  Christ  their  Lord." 

SALVIAN,  Bishop  of  Marseilles,  says  of  theatre-goers 
who  have  embraced  the  new  faith — "  Thou  hast  once 
renounced  the  devil  and  his  spectacles,  and  by  this  thou 
must  needs  know  that  thou  dost  return  to  the  devil,  when 
thou  dost  wittingly  and  knowingly  return  to  stage-plays." 

"  The  true  soldiers  of  Christ,"  says  BERNARD,  "  reject 
and  abominate  players  and  stage-plays,  as  vanities  and 
false  frenzies." 

Prynne  quotes  still  others,  the  foremost  writers  among 
the  early  Christians  and  those  of  the  centuries  immedi- 
ately succeeding,  as  Cyprian,  Lactantius,  Ambrose,  Basil, 


THE   THEATRE.  13 

etc.,  as  well  as  the  deliberate  acts  of  fifty-four  General, 
National,  and  Provincial  Councils,  ancient  and  modern, 
all  bearing  unequivocal  testimony  against  plays  and  play- 
houses as  being  Satan's  own.  Hence,  summing  up  the 
testimony  gathered  from  the  primitive  period  of  the 
Christian  Church,  our  author  says :  "  We  have  the 
express  testimony  of  sundry  Fathers  and  Councils,  that 
all  the  godly  Christians  in  the  Primitive  Church  did 
wholly  withdraw  themselves  from  stage-plays ;  that  all 
those  Pagans  who  either  acted  or  frequented  plays,  did 
immediately  upon  their  conversion  to  the  Christian  faith, 
and  their  very  first  admittance  into  the  Church  of  Christ, 
ever  publicly  renounce  all  future  acting  or  resort  to  plays  ; 
and  that  none  but  Pagans,  unchaste,  profane,  and  grace- 
less persons,  who  were  cast  out  of  the  Church  by  public 
censures,  did  use  to  flock  unto  them." 

Having  thus  pursued  the  subject,  more  exhaustively 
perhaps  than  any  other  writer,  Prynne  gives  his  views 
upon  reforming  the  stage,  in  the  following  plainly 
expressed  and  eloquent  conclusion : 

"  Many  are  the  laws  which  have  been  enacted ;  much 
the  care  that  hath  been  taken  by  sundry  states  and  cen- 
sors in  all  ages  to  lop  off  the  enormities,  allay  the  poison, 
purge  out  the  filth  and  gross  corruptions  of  these  stage- 
plays,  and  so  to  reduce  them  to  a  laud- 
able and  inoffensive  use:  but  yet  these 
Ethiopians  still  retain  their  black  infernal  hue;  these 
vipers  keep  their  soul-devouring  poison  still ;  these 
Augean  stables  are  as  polluted  (yea,  more  defiled)  now, 


Prynne  upon    re- 
forming the  stage. 


14  THE   THEATRE. 

as  ever  Heretofore  :  no  art,  no  age,  no  nation  could  ever 
yet  abridge,  much  less  reform,  their  exorbitant  corrup- 
tions and  enormities  ;  their  hurt  doth  far  transcend  their 
good  ;  their  abuses  far  overpoise  iKir  use  ;  they  are  so 
crooked  and  distorted  in  themselves,  that  no  art  can  make 
them  straight;  there  is  no  other  means  left  to  reform 
them,  but  utterly  to  abolish  them." 

Leaving  Prynne,  who  (as  said  before)  wrote  in  the  time 
of  the  profligate  Charles  the  Second  and  his  dissolute 
court,  let  us  consult  the  views  upon  theatre-going  of  one 
who,  upward  of  a  century  later,  made  careful  examination 
of  the  subject:  I  allude  to  the  excellent  Hannah  More. 
The  possessor,  as  was  thought,  of  some  dramatic  talent, 
she  was  introduced  to  the  celebrated  actor  Garrick,  with 
a  view  to  her  going  upon  the  stage  ;  but  becoming  con- 
vinced of  the  demoralizing  character  of  the  pursuit,  she 
happily  relinquished  her  purpose.  This  discerning  woman, 
in  adducing  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  of 
the  unflattering  witness  within,  remarks  : 

"  I  would  take  leave  of  those  amiable  and  not  ill-dis- 
posed young  persons  who  complain  of  the  rigor  of  human 
prohibitions,  and  declare  '  they  me^t  with  no  such  strict- 
ness in  the  gospel,'  by  asking  them  with  the  most  affec- 
tionate earnestness,  if  they  can  conscientiously  reconcile 


Testimony  of  Han- 


their  nightly  attendance  at  every  public1 
place  which  they  frequent,  with  such 
precepts  as  the  following  :  '  Redeeming  the  time  '  — 
*  Watch  and  pray  '  —  '  Watch,  for  ye  know  not  at  what 
time  your  Lord  cometh  '  —  '  Abstain  from  all  appearance 


THE    THEATRE.  15 

of  evil ' — '  Set  your  affections  on  things  above  * — t  Be  ye 
spiritually  minded  * — '  Crucify  the  flesh  with  its  affections 
and  lusts.'  And  I  would  venture  to  offer  one  criterion 
by  which  the  persons  in  question  may  be  enabled  to 
decide  on  the  positive  innocence  and  safety  of  such 
diversions ;  I  mean,  provided  they  are  sincere  in  their 
scrutiny  and  honest  in  their  avowal.  If,  on  their  return 
at  night  from  these  places  they  find  they  can  retire  and 
'  commune  with  their  own  hearts ;'  if  they  can  '  bring 
every  thought  into  subjection/  and  concentrate  every 
wandering  imagination,  if  they  can  soberly  examine  into 
their  own  state  of  mind :  I  do  not  say,  if  they  can  do  all 
this  perfectly  and  without  distraction  (for  who  can  do 
this  at  any  time  ?)  but,  if  they  can  do  it  with  the  same 
degree  of  seriousness,  pray  with  the  same  degree  of  fervor, 
and  renounce  the  world  in  as  great  a  measure  as  at  other 
times;  and  if  they  can  lie  down  with  a  peaceful  conscious- 
ness of  having  avoided  in  the  evening  that '  temptation  ' 
which  they  had  prayed  not  to  be  *  led  into '  in  the  morn- 
ing, they  may  then  more  reasonably  hope  that  all  is  well, 
and  that  they  are  not  speaking  false  peace  in  their  hearts. 
"Again,  if  we  cannot  beg  the  blessing  of  our  Maker 
on  whatever  we  are  going  to  do  or  to  enjoy,  is  it  not  an 
unequivocal  proof  that  the  thing  ought  not  to  be  done 
or  enjoyed  ?  On  all  the  rational  enjoyments  of  society,  on 
all  healthful  and  temperate  exercise,  on  the  delights  of 
friendship,  arts,  and  polished  letters,  on  the  exquisite 
pleasures  resulting  from  the  enjoyment  of  rural  scenery 
and  the  beauties  of  nature ;  on  the  innocent  participation 


1 6  THE  THEATRE. 

of  these  we  may  ask  the  divine  favor — for  the  sober 
enjoyment  of  these  we  may  thank  the  divine  benefi- 
cence ;  but  do  we  feel  equally  disposed  to  invoke  bless- 
ings or  return  praises  for  gratifications  found  (to  say  no 
worse)  in  levity,  in  vanity,  and  waste  of  time  ?  If  these 
tests  were  fairly  used  ;  if  these  experiments  were  honestly 
tried ;  if  these  examinations  were  conscientiously  made, 
may  we  not  without  offense  presume  to  ask — Could  our 
numerous  places  of  public  resort,  could  our  ever-multi- 
plying scenes  of  more  select  but  not  less  dangerous 
diversion,  nightly  overflow  with  an  excess  hitherto  unpar- 
alleled in  the  annals  of  pleasure  ?" 

Next,  in  regard  to  the  stage  being  a  school  of  morals, 
as  some  have  vainly  claimed,  John  Witherspoon,  President 
of  Princeton  College,  wrote  as  follows  in  his  Serious 
Enquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Effects  of  the  Stage. 

"  If  the  stage  be  a  proper  method  of  promoting  the 
interests  of  religion,  then  is  Satan's  kingdom  divided 
against  itself,  which  he  is  more  cunning  than  to  suffer  it 
to  be.  For  whatever  debate  there  be,  whether  good  men 
may  attend  the  theatre,  there  can  be  no  question  at  all 
that  no  openly  vicious  man  is  an  enemy 
to  it,  and  that  the  far  greater  part 
of  them  do  passionately  love  it.  Nothing  is  more  certain 
than  that,  taking  the  world  according  to  its  appear- 
ance, it  is  the  worse  part  of  it  that  shows  most  passion 
for  this  entertainment,  and  the  best  that  avoids  and  fears 
it,  than  which  there  can  hardly  be  a  worse  sign  of  it  as  a 
means  of  doing  good." 


The   stage    not 
school  of  morals. 


THE   THEATRE.  17 

This  assumption  of  moral  teaching  on  behalf  of  the 
stage  is  controverted  in  an  essay  against  plays  issued  by 
the  Jansenists  of  Port  Royal  about  the  beginning  of  last 
century.  They  say : 

"  It  is  so  true  that  plays  are  almost  always  a  represen- 
tation of  vicious  passions,  that  the  most  part  of  Christian 
virtues  are  incapable  of  appearing  upon  the  stage.  Silence, 
patience,  moderation,  poverty,  repentance,  are  no  virtues 
the  representation  of  which  can  divert  the  spectators ; 
and  above  all,  we  never  hear  humility  spoken  of,  and  the 
bearing  of  injuries.  It  would  be  strange  to  see  a  modest 
and  silent  religious  person  represented.  There  must  be 
something  great  and  renowned  according  to  men,  or  at 
least  something  lively  and  animated,  which  is  not  met 
withal  in  Christian  gravity  and  wisdom ;  and  therefore, 
those  who  have  been  desirous  to  introduce  holy  men  and 
women  upon  the  stage  have  been  forced  to  make  them 
appear  proud,  and  to  make  them  utter  discourses  more 
proper  for  the  ancient  Roman  heroes  than  for  saints  and 
martyrs." 

To  recur  again  to  Prynne — he  also  says,  respecting 
stage-plays  teaching  virtues  :  "  But  I  never  yet  could 
hear  or  read  of  any  ancient  or  modern  actor,  composer, 
or  spectator  of  any  theatrical  interludes  whom  plays 
recalled  from  the  love,  the  practice  of  any  vices,  that 
were  ever  acted  on  the  stage,  whereas  they  have  drawn 
millions  to  imitate  them." 

It  may  now  be  instructive  to  give  ear  to  the  "  sober 
second  thought"  of  some  of  the  play-actors  themselves. 


1 8  THE   THEATRE. 

Colley  Gibber,  for  forty  years  an  actor,  has  this  to  re- 
mark concerning  his  occupation.  Writing  in  the  time 
of  Queen  Anne,  he  says  :  "  While  vice  and  farcical  folly 
are  the  most  profitable  commodities,  why  should  we 


Testimony  of  play- 
actors-Coiley  Gibber 


wonder  that,  time  out  of  mind,  the  poor 
comedian  when  real  vice  could  bear  no 


price  should  deal  in  what  would  bring  him  most  ready 
money  ?  But  this,  you  will  say,  is  making  the  stage  a 
nursery  of  vice  and  folly,  or  at  least  keeping  an  open 
shop  for  it.  /  grant  it"  In  an  epilogue  composed  by 
Dr.  Johnson,  and  spoken  by  Gibber's  successor,  Garrick, 
at  the  re-opening  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre  upon  a  pro- 
fessedly reformed  basis,  there  occurs  this  sentiment : 

'*  Ah  1  let  not  censure  term  our  fate  our  choice, 
The  stage  but  echoes  back  the  public  voice  ; 
The  drama's  laws  the  drama's  patrons  give, 
For  we  that  live  to  please  must  please  to  live." 

Dumas,  who  wrote   CamUlc9  said :  "  You  do  not  take 
your  daughter  to  see  my  play.     You  are  right.     Let  me 

say  once  for  all,  you  must  not  take  your 
Dumas. 

daughter  to  the  theatre.     It  is  not  merely 

the  work  that  is  immoral,  it  is  the  place.  Whenever  we 
paint  men,  there  must  be  a  grossness  that  cannot  be 
placed  before  all  eyes ;  and  whenever  the  theatre  is 
elevated  and  loyal,  it  can  live  only  by  using  the  color  of 
truth.  The  theatre  being  the  picture  or  satire  of  the 
passions  and  social  manners,  it  must  be  immoral — the 
passions  and  social  manners  themselves  being  immoral." 
Edwin  Booth,  in  a  letter  to  the  Christian  Union,  says :  "  I 


E  win  Booth. 


Macready  and 

Knowles. 


THE    THEATRE.  19 

never  permit  my  wife  or  daughter  to  witness  a  play  with- 
out previously  ascertaining  its  character.  *  *  While 
the  theatre  is  permitted  to  be  a  mere 
shop  for  gain,  open  to  every  huckster  of 
immoral  gimcracks,  there  is  no  other  way  to  discriminate 
between  the  pure  and  base  than  through  the  experience 
of  others/'  (This  E.  Booth,  in  his  vain  attempt  to  reform 
the  stage,  lost  a  fortune.)  W.  C.  Macready,  another 
noted  actor,  said  :  "  None  of  my  children  shall  ever,  with 
my  consent,  or  on  any  pretence,  enter  a  theatre,  or  have 
any  visiting  connection  with  actors  or 
actresses."  Sheridan  Knowles,  once  a 
successful  playwright  and  actor,  having  become  a  Chris- 
tian, renounced  the  stage  as  utterly  evil,  and  devoted  the 
remainder  of  his  life  to  preaching  the  Gospel. 

Says  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  writing  on  the  Perils  of  the 
Play-House :  "  One  of  the  most  celebrated  actresses  of 
this  time  informed  a  friend  of  mine  that  she  'only  enters 
a  theatre  to  enact  her  part,  and  has  very  little  conversa- 
tion with  her  own  profession.'  A  converted  actor  once 
said  to  me  while  passing  a  play-house  in  which  he  had 
often  performed, — '  Behind  those  curtains  lies  Sodom.' 
Although  sorely  pressed  to  return  to  his  old  pursuits,  he 
said  he  would  sooner  starve  than  go  on  the  stage  again. 
These  men  certainly  knew  whereof  they  affirmed." 

Of  play-acting,  the  actress  Siddons  says  that  it  is  a 
business  "  unworthy  of  a  woman."  Frances  Kemble,  in 
her  Reminiscences  of  the  Stage — a  recent  installment 
of  which  appeared  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly — gives  the 


20  THE    THEATRE. 

subjoined  striking  testimony.  Describing  her  first  ap- 
pearance on  the  stage,  she  says : 

"  So  my  life  was  determined,  and  I  devoted  myself  to 
an  avocation  which  I  never  liked  or  honored,  and  about 
the  very  nature  of  which  I  have  never  been  able  to  come  to 
a  decided  opinion.  It  is  in  vain  that  the  undoubted  speci- 
fic gifts  of  great  actors  and  actresses  suggest  that  all  gifts 
are  given  for  rightful  exercise;  in  vain  that  Shakespeare's 
plays  urge  the  imperative  claim  to  the 

Kemble  and  Siddons.  * 

most  perfect  illustration  they  can  receive 

from  histrionic  interpretation  :  a  business  which  is  inces- 
sant excitement  and  factitious  emotion  seems  to  me  un- 
worthy of  man  ;  a  business  which  is  public  exhibition  is 
unworthy  of  a  woman."  *  *  "  Never,"  she  further 
says,  "  have  I  presented  myself  before  an  audience  with- 
out a  shrinking  feeling  of  reluctance,  or  withdrawn  from 
their  presence  without  thinking  the  excitement  I  had 
undergone  unhealthy  and  the  personal  exhibition 
odious." 

In  endeavoring  to  account  (after  her  public  appearance 
at  Drury  Lane)  for  the  origin  of  the  deep  impression 
that  she  had  entertained  as  to  the  moral  dangers  of  the 
life  upon  which  she  was  then  entering — for,  she  says, 
this  fearfulness  certainly  came  not  from  her  parents,  who 
seemed  not  to  have  been  troubled  with  any  moral  repug- 
nance to  their  calling — she  proceeds  :  "  I  had  never 
heard  the  nature  of  it  discussed,  and  was  absolutely 
without  experience  of  it ;  but  the  vapid  vacuity  of  the 
last  years  of  my  aunt  Siddons'  life  had  made  a  profound 


THE    THEATRE.  2 1 

impression  upon  me — her  apparent  deadness  and  indiffer- 
ence to  every  thing  .which  I  attributed  (unjustly  perhaps) 
less  to  her  advanced  age  than  to  what  I  supposed  the 
withering  and  drying  influence  of  the  over-stimulating 
atmosphere  of  emotion,  excitement,  and  admiration  in 
which  she  had  passed  her  life ;  certain  it  is  that  such  was 
my  dread  of  the  effect  of  my  profession  upon  me  that  I 
added  an  earnest  petition  to  my  daily  prayers  that  I 
might  be  defended  from  the  evil  influences  I  feared  might 
be  exercised  upon  me." 

Montague  Stanley,  an  English  actor  of  note,  became  so 
convinced  of  the  sinfulness  of  the  stage  that,  for  con- 
science' sake,  he  relinquished  it,  and  that  at  a  time  when 
he  was  considered  to  be  one  of  the  most 
rising  men  in  his  profession.  In  the 
midst  of  the  popular  applause  his  mind 
had  been  ill  at  ease,  so  that,  finally,  God's  grace  leading 
him  to  a  true  discernment  of  the  way  he  had  been  tread- 
ing and  the  privilege  of  giving  up  all  for  Christ,  he  was 
enabled  to  make  this  entry  in  his  journal : — "  April  28. 
Last  night  of  my  dramatic  career  ;  and  now,  thanks  be 
to  the  Lord,  who  hath  called  me  from  darkness  to  light, 
I  am  emancipated  from  a  most  ungodly  profession. 
May  the  Lord  bless  and  prosper  me  in  my  new  one." 
Later  he  said,  as  to  the  peril  and  guilt  of  the  theatre  fre- 
quenters :  "  They  are  leading  others  by  their  example  to 
do  as  they  are  doing,  and  they  are  verily  guilty  of  their 
brother's  blood  when  he  falls  into  the  snare  of  ungodli- 
ness and  is  taken.  They  are  upholding  a  system  of 


Dispassionate  testi- 
mony   of    Montague 


22  THE   THEATRE. 

enormous  wickedness.  It  is  useless  for  any  person  to 
say  that  the  theatre  would  go  on  whether  he  paid  his 
money  or  not.  It  would  not  go  on  if  it  were  deserted  by 
the  audience.  Every  individual,  then,  who  contributes  a 
fraction  at  the  door  of  a  theatre  for  admission  is  a  par- 
taker with  all  those  sitting  around  him  in  the  common 
sin  of  supporting  a  vast  machinery  of  corruption." 

Not  less  convincing  than  the  above  is  the  (late) 
changed  experience  and  the  testimony  of  one  of  our  own 
countrymen,  who  for  more  than  twenty  years  followed 
the  stage  in  the  various  characters  of  clown,  minstrel, 
and  regular  play-actor.  Having  seen  the  folly  of,  and 
abandoned  his  former  occupation,  he  has  been  much 
occupied  during  the  past  three  years  in  calling  others 
from  the  evil  of  their  way,  with  the  result  that  quite 
a  number  of  stage-players  have  aban- 
doned the  pursuit  and  turned  to  more 
morally-profitable  engagements.  At  a  lecture  given 
some  months  ago  in  the  city  of  New  York  he  gave  a 
sketch  of  his  life,  in  which  he  pointed  out  from  his  own 
experience  that  "  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard." 
Blessed  with  a  good  Christian  home — the  remembrance 
of  which  never  left  him  in  all  the  years  of  his  wandering 
— he  confessed,  nevertheless,  that  often,  after  his  mother 
had  given  him  her  "  good-night  kiss  "  and  supposed  he 
was  asleep,  he  would  dress  himself  and  steal  out  of  the 
house  to  go  to  the  theatre — so  strong  had  become  his 
infatuation  for  the  play. 

Referring  to  the  way  in  which  professing  Christians 


A  changed  American 
actor. 


THE   THEATRE.  23 

turn  their  backs  upon  the  Master  in  this  matter — fre- 
quenting the  play-house  and  siding  with  the  enemies  of 
truth  and  righteousness — he  said :  "  I  have  stood  by  the 
footlights  many  a  night  and  recognized  in  the  audience 
Christian  men  by  whose  side  I  had  sat  in  church.  You 
all  know  the  influence  of  such  conduct  upon  the  young. 
And  not  only  young  men,  but  old  gray-haired  men  ap- 
pear in  those  places  nightly ;  and,  though  not  a  Christian, , 
I  have  blushed  again  and  again  to  see  Christian  (?)  men 
laughing  at  and  applauding  scenes  of  vice  and  vulgarity." 
Concluding,  he  said  he  could  not  understand  how  any 
man  who  has  given  his  heart  to  Christ  can  enter  those 
gateways  to  hell,  and  he  knew  actors  who  are  longing  to 
get  away  from  the  influences  that  surround  them  and 
the  bonds  that  hold  them  to  the  stage. 

When  Dr.  Judson  was  attending  college  he  imbibed 
the  poison  of  unbelief,  so  that  the  truths  and  the  comforts 
of  the  Christian  religion  became  (apparently)  of  no  value 
to  him.  Leaving  college,  he  came  to  New  York  upon 
the  special  errand  of  acquainting  himself  thoroughly  with 
theatrical  life  in  case  he  should  conclude 

.  .  .  11-  i  •  Judson  a  stroMing- 

to  adopt  dramatic  authorship  as  his  pro-     p'ayer-His   sorrow 

-       .  _          -  .  ,  .       ,       and  reparation. 

fession.  tor  this  purpose  he  attached 
himself  to  a  company  of  strolling  players,  leading,  for 
awhile,  a  reckless,  vagabond  life,  and,  as  opportunity 
offered,  running  up  a  score  and  departing  without  pay- 
ing. His  subsequent  sorrow  for  this  disgraceful  episode 
of  his  life  was  so  poignant,  that  before  sailing  for  Burmah 
he  could  only  find  rest  by  an  attempt  at  reparation. 


Timely  counsel  to  a 
would-be  actress. 


24  THE    THEATRE. 

He  says  :  "  Before  leaving  America,  when  the  enormity 
of  this  vicious  course  rested  with  a  depressing  weight  on 
my  mind,  I  made  a  second  tour  over  the  same  ground, 
carefully  making  amends  to  all  whom  I  had  injured." 

The  following  instructive  circumstance,  illustrating 
the  good  accompanying  a  ''word  in  season,"  has  been  fur- 
nished the  writer:  As  a  Friend,  a  minister,  was  walking  the 
street  in  a  low  state  of  mind,  he  became  conscious  that 
a  young  woman  was  walking  by  his  side.  She  addressed 
him  by  saying  that  her  father,  a  general  residing  in  a 
Southern  State,  had  so  high  an  esteem  for  the  Quakers 
that  she  felt  impelled  to  speak  to  him  as  one  of  them. 
Entering  into  conversation,  the  Friend 
found  that,  at  the  persuasion  of  some 
of  her  friends  who  thought  she  would  succeed  as  an 
actress,  she  had  come  to  Philadelphia  to  prepare 
to  appear  upon  the  stage,  and  was  then  taking 
lessons  in  elocution  for  that  purpose.  The  Friend,  ex- 
pressing his  sorrow,  said  he  had  read  that  "  they  that 
turn  many  to  righteousness  shall  shine  as  the  stars  for 
ever  and  ever,"  but  there  was  no  such  promise  recorded 
for  those  who  were  instrumental  in  leading  others  to  the 
brink  of  the  pit  of  destruction,  as  would  probably  be  her 
experience  if  she  carried  out  her  plans.  Some  days  or 
weeks  after,  she  came  to  the  place  of  business  of  her 
faithful  counselor  and  told  him  that  the  words  he  had 
uttered  had  remained  constantly  with  her,  and  that  she 
had  now  determined  to  give  up  her  project  and  return 
to  her  father,  who  had  never  approved  of  her  scheme. 


Moral  loss  to  the 
play-actors       them- 


THE   THEATRE.  25 

A  gay  young  lady  was  once  expatiating  upon  the 
varied  pleasures  attendant  upon  theatre-going — the 
pleasures  of  anticipation,  with  that  of  seeing  and  hearing, 
and  also  of  recollecting  the  scene — when  a  godly  man 
observed,  "  Madam,  there  is  one  pleasure  you  have  for- 
gotten.'' "What  is  that?"  queried  the  lady.  "The 
pleasure  of  remembering  it  on  your  dying  bed." 

In  speaking  of  the  perils  of  the  play-house,  it  is  there- 
fore not  alone  the  imminent  danger  to  the  attenders 
which  has  to  be  considered,  but  also,  as  just  intimated, 
the  moral  loss — frequently  the  overwhelming  moral  loss 
— which  is  sure  to  accrue  to  the  players 
themselves.  I  will  introduce  this  aspect 
of  the  subject  by  quoting  the  following 
brief  paragraph  concerning  a  widely  known  American 
actor  who  died  not  many  years  ago,  premising  the  quo- 
tation with  the  remark  that  the  words  were  written  by  a 
friendly  hand  and  that  the  glimpse  they  give  of  the  inner 
life  of  this  actor  of  note  is  doubtless  not  unlike  that  of 
very  many  who  live  by  the  stage : 

"  His  habitual  mood  was  one  of  levity.  He  loved  and 
trusted  but  very  few  persons.  It  suited  his  humor  to  jest 
and  to  seek  excitement  and  distraction  ;  first,  because 
his  temperament  naturally  bloomed  in  a  frolic  atmos- 
phere, and  then  because  he  wished  to  suppress  melan- 
choly feelings  and  a  gloomy  proneness  to  self-reproach 
and  saddening  introspection.  In  his  domestic  life  he 
was  unfortunate  ;  and  he  lived  to  learn — as  all  do  who 
depart  from  innocence — that  the  wrong  that  is  done  to 
the  affections  can  never  be  righted  on  earth." 


Remorse  of  a  dying 
tragedian. 


26  THE   THEATRE. 

An  actor  of  eminence  was  performing  before  a  large 
audience  the  leading  part  in  a  startling  tragedy  which 
was  represented  as  ending  in  the  hero's  death.  Though 
in  a  decline,  he  did  his  part  so  well  that  thunders  of  ap- 
plause followed  the  curtain's  fall.  The  effort,  however, 
had  been  too  much  for  the  actor's  strength,  so  that  he 
lingered  in  life  a  few  days  only.  When  told  that  there 
was  no  hope  for  him,  a  terrible  despair  settled  upon  his 
countenance.  Grasping  the  physician's 
wrist,  he  cried  out :  "  O,  S !  the  thea- 
tre may  do  for  us  to  live  by,  but,  oh !  it  will  not  do  to 
die  by.  We  have  all  sinned  against  the  Lord  our  God — 
but  be  sure  our  sins  will  find  us  out."  With  these  words 
upon  his  lips  the  wretched  man  expired,  but  the  physi- 
cian never  forgot  the  thrilling  words  which  confessed  the 
mockery  of  the  play-house,  nor  the  convulsive  grasp 
which  seemed  as  though  it  would  tear  aside  the  mask  of 
its  hollowness  and  gay  delusion. 

A  writer  upon  the  theatre  has  tersely  said :  "  The  good 
self  of  the  actor's  personality  must  for  the  time  being  be 
lost  in  the  evil  self  of  the  character  acted.  And  what 
an  effect  is  this !  The  greater  the  actor,  the  completer 
the  transference  of  self  and  the  profounder  the  evil !" 
To  illustrate  this,  he  cites  the  following  description  by  a 
noted  authoress,  a  novelist,  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
"  hellish  transformation"  appeared  to  possess  an  equally 
celebrated  actress  when  performing  her  part  in  a  certain 
tragedy. 

"  For  a  while — a  long  while — I  thought  it  was  only  a 


THE   THEATRE.  27 

woman,  though  a  unique  woman,  who  moved  in  might 
and  grace  before  this  multitude.  By  and  by  I  recognized 
my  mistake.  Behold!  I  found  upon  Evil  transferred  to 
her  something  neither  of  woman  nor  of  jts  imPersonat°r- 
man :  in  each  of  her  eyes  sat  a  devil.  These  evil  forces 
bore  her  through  the  tragedy,  kept  up  her  feeble  strength 
— for  she  was  but  a  frail  creature  ;  and  as  the  action  rose 
and  the  story  deepened,  how  wildly  they  shook  her  with 
the  passions  of  the  pit !  They  wrote  Hell  on  her  straight, 
haughty  brow.  They  turned  her  voice  to  the  note  of 
torment.  They  writhed  her  regal  face  to  a  demoniac 
mask.  Hate  and  murder  and  madness  incarnate,  she 
stood."  I  think  it  will  be  admitted  that  such  power  or 
genius  for  Satanic  transformation  is  all  too  dearly 
acquired. 

A  recent  English  writer  computes  that  one  of  the  most 
widely  known  of  English  actors — one  who  is  a  champion 
for  the  reformation  of  the  stage — has  committed  at  least 
fifteen  thousand  murders  upon  the  theatre's  boards;  that 
another  has  been  divorced  nearly  three  thousand  times 
on  the  stage ;  and  others  (named)  in  the  personation  of 
sundry  stage  characters  have  been  some  thousands  of 
times  "  foully  betrayed,  deserted,  or  abducted."  Hence, 
we  may  with  pertinency  ask,  whether  it  can  be  possible 
for  the  moral  nature  of  the  portrayers  of  these  terrible 
offenses  to  pass,  even  measurably,  uncontaminated 
through  all  this  evil  simulation. 

A  London  serial  (Echoes  from  Paris]  published  in  the 
interest  of  Christian  work  in  the  French  capital,  refers  to 


28  THE    THEATRE. 

the  opening  of  a  Home  for  "  respectable  English  ballet- 
girls  in  Paris,"  and  prints  from  the  well-known  journal, 
Figaro,  some  remarks  by  one  of  the  editors  of  the  latter 
upon  the  actresses'  calling.  This  writer  shows  that  the 
public  concerns  itself  not  at  all  as  to  the  effect  of  stage 
acting  upon  those  whose  paid  occupation  it  is  to  please: 
"  It  wants  to  laugh  or  to  cry,  often  both 
at  once;  and  it  does  not  trouble  itself 


Figaro's  opinion  of 
the  actresses' calling. 


about  the  consequences.  *  To  be  a  really  clever 

performer,  and  very  few  are  such,  the  various  passions  of 
a  woman's  nature  cannot  be  represented  by  one  who  has 
not  felt  them.  If  I  do  not  express  an  absolute  fact,  it  is 
at  least  remarkable  that  the  lives  of  all  the  great  actresses 
have  been  full  of  intrigues ;  and  it  may  even  be  said  that 
the  greater  they  were,  the  freer  the  life  they  led.  The 
history  of  the  theatre,  from  its  origin  to  our  own  times, 
tends  to  prove  this." 

It  will  serve  to  point  the  moral  of  this  part  of  my  sub- 
ject if  I  advert  to  the  tragic  end  of  the  playwright,  Salmi 
Morse,  an  event  which  happened  while  these  notes  were 
in  preparation.  Repeatedly  defeated  in  his  purpose  of 
having  the  "  Passion  Play  "  performed  before  a  New  York 
audience — for  both  the  public  at  large  and  the  judicial 
The  "Passion  Play "  authorities  had  declared  it  to  be  a  subject 

of  Salmi  Morse.  -,i         .   . *  ,        r 

without  the  pale  of  scenic  representation 
— overwhelmed  with  debt,  and  filled  with  a  remorse  which 
led  him  to  wish  that  the  Almighty  would  put  an  end  to  his 
unhappy  life,  he  at  last  cast  himself  into  the  Hudson  (some 


THE    THEATRE  29 

said  the  hand  of  an  enemy  pushed  him  in)  and  thus  per- 
ished miserably.* 

It  is  surely  not  necessary  to  multiply  condemnatory 
testimony  such  as  that  which  has  been  given,  coming  as 
it  in  part  does  from  those  who  have  been,  or  who  now 
are,  enabled  to  speak  from  dearly  earned  experience. 
We  will  turn  next — it  may  be  hoped  with  profit — to 
something  said  in  defense  of  the  stage,  being  the  separate 
comments  of  three  writers — actors,  playwrights,  or  stage- 
managers — upon  a  brief  arraignment  of  the  theatre  by  J. 
M.  Buckley,  editor  of  the  Methodist  Christian  Advocate, 
of  New  York  City.  The  four  articles  are  printed  in  con- 
nection, in  the  North  American  Review  for  the  Sixth 
month,  1883. 

Some  extracts  from  J.  M.  Buckley's  paper  will  be  first 
in  order.  Giving  in  a  few  lines  his  own  experience,  he 
says :  "  The  writer  in  the  most  susceptible  period  of  his 
life  was  fascinated  by  the  theatre.  The  time  was  short, 
but  the  fever  ran  high,  and  during  his  attendance  he  saw 
some  of  the  most  noted  actors  who  have  appeared  during 
the  last  thirty  years,  a  few  of  whom  are  Experience  and 
still  in  the  front  ranks  of  their  profession,  views  of  J.M.Buckley. 
The  sneers  at  religion  and  straight-laced  bigots  which 
certain  comedies  contained  embittered  him  toward  a  life 


*  "  And  because  th-  pH'isly  introduced  custom  of  representing  to  the  people  the  ven- 
erable passion  of  Christ  the  Lonl,  and  the  glorious  combats  of  martyrs  and  acts  of  the 
saints,  is  brought  to  such  a  pass  by  the  perverseness  of  men  that  it  is  an  offense  to  many, 
ard  likewise  .1  matter  of  much  derision  and  contempt  to  many:  we  therefore  decree,  that 
from  henceforth  the  passion  of  OIK  Saviour  be  no  more  acted  neither  in  any  sacred  nor 
profane  place,  but  that  it  be  learnedly  and  gravelv  declared  by  the  preachers  in  such  sort 
as  that  they  may  siir  up  piety  and  tears  in  the  auditors." — Council  of  Milan,  A.D.  1560- 


30  THE   THEATRE. 

of  piety.  The  excitement  of  the  evening  unfitted  him  for 
the  serious  pursuit  of  his  business.  He  lost  relish  for 
lectures  and  solid  reading ;  a  semi-tragical  extravagance 
with  an  infusion  of  comical  slang,  affected  his  action  and 
expression ;  while  the  company  he  found  there  was  such 
as  to  destroy  all  interest  in  the  society  of  steady 
persons." 

Following  prior  writers  on  the  topic,  J.  M.  Buckley 
shows  that,  inasmuch  as  the  success  of  a  theatrical  enter- 
tainment depends  upon  its  power  to  excite  attention  and 
kindle  strong  emotion,  it  is  any  or  all  of  the  long  array  of 
evil  dispositions  and  wickednesses  which  find  such  ready 
representation,  and  not,  or  rarely  not,  the  quiet  virtues  of 
"  truth,  honesty,  temperance,  industry,  frugality,  chastity, 
religion,"  which  are  not  readily  representable  on  the 
stage  so  as  to  satisfy  the  sense  of  high  excitement  which 
is  clamored  for.  The  witticisms  will  be  vulgar  or 
broadly  indecent,  while  the  attitude  assumed  and  the 
general  behavior  of  those  engaged  in  acting  out  the 
vices  will  be  broadly  at  variance  with  that  Christian 
decorum  and  sobriety  of  demeanor  to  which  every  one 
is  called. 

"  The  result,"  he  continues,  "  of  an  examination  of 
more  than  sixty  of  the  plays  which  have  been  performed 
in  the  principal  theatres  of  New  York  within  recent  years 
— copies  prepared  for  the  use  of  the  actors  being  used — 
shows  that  if  language  and  sentiments  which  would  not 
be  tolerated  among  respectable  people  in  private  inter- 
course, and  would  excite  indignation  if  addressed  to  the 


THE    THEATRE.  3! 

most  uncultivated  and  coarse  servant-girl,  not  openly 
vicious,  by  an  ordinary  young  man,  and  profaneness 
which  would  brand  him  who  uttered  it  as  irreligious,  are 
improper  amusements  for  the  young  and  for  Christians 
of  every  age,  at  least  fifty  of  the  sixty  plays  above  re- 
ferred to  must  be  condemned."  He  gives  some  details 
of  the  plots  of  several  of  them,  but  it  will  suffice  merely 
to  cite  what  he  says  in  brief  of  two  of  the  public's  favorite 

dramas,  that  " consists  of  infidelity,  adultery,  murder, 

re-marriage,  and  the  subsequent  re-appearance  of  the 
first  wife  to  die  in  the  house  of  her  former  husband. 

is  a  succession  of  hypocrisy,  covetousness,  drinking, 

gambling,  jealousy,  and  infidelity,  tending  to  impart  a 
view  of  life  to  the  young  which,  if  taken  as  true,  would 
lead  to  distrust,  misanthropy,  and  personal  recklessness." 

Hence,  the  above  writer  sees  no  probability  of  a  re- 
formation of  the  stage,  because  its  reform  has  been  called 
for  for  centuries  and  never  been  accomplished,  it  having 
always  existed  under  conditions  which  forbid  the  hope  of 
reform;  the  sane  morbid  demand  for  delineation  of  vice 
continues  ;  and  finally,  as  the  pecuniary  success  of  the 
play  is  of  the  first  moment  to  the  playwright  and  mana- 
ger, and  as  "  nine-tenths  of  the  theatre-going  public  call 
for  the  present  order  of  plays,  they  will  get  what  they 
call  for  or  the  management  must  fail." 

To  this  serious  arraignment,  the  first  of  the  theatre 
defenders,  replying,  is  frank  enough  to  say  that  the  pres- 
ent condition  of  the  drama  is  "a  subject  for  regret,"  and 
that  many  of  the  plays  "  are  open  to  the  severest  criti- 


32  THE   THEATRE. 

cism,"  yet  he  thinks  that  there  has  been  some  noticea- 
ble improvement,  and  "  that  the  attitude  of  the  Christian 
public  generally  is  much  more  liberal  toward  the  theatre 
A  forma'  plea  for  anc^  theatrical  people  than  [formerly],  and 
that  actors  as  such  are  not  now  excluded 
from  good  society  on  account  of  their  calling," — an  as- 
severation which  (if  correct)  can  hardly  be  received  as 
hopefully  indicating  the  right  estimation  of  this  pursuit 
by  the  professing  Church.  He  further  asserts  that,  it 
being  the  province  of  the  stage  to  amuse  and  instruct, 
vice  is  indeed  exhibited  to  the  intent  that  goodness  may 
thereby  be  taught  by  comparison  :  surely  a  dangerous 
position  to  hold,  and  such  as  no  concerned  parent  would 
bring  forward  as  an  excuse  for  having  permitted  his  sons 
to  seek  the  companionship  of  profane  and  immoral 
boys. 

The  second  theatre  defender  takes  a  more  hopeful  view 
of  stage  morals,  and  claims  that  "the  attendance  is  of  a 
more  refined  class  and  far  larger  than  it  ever  was  before" 
— a  claim,  as  to  the  latter  part,  which,  though  unhappily 
too  true,  proves  nothing  as  to  the  righteousness  of  the 
thing  pleaded  for.  And  though  it  be  said  that  the  Eng- 
lish sovereign  herself  gives  countenance 
to  the  stage,  and  has  chosen  to  take  un- 


The  plea  of  re- 
spectability. 


der  her  special  patronage  the  writer  of  the  play  of"  Pin- 
afore," yet  how  sorrowful  the  reflection  that  the  Queen's 
youngest  son,  the  late  Prince  Leopold,  came  to  his  end 
(if  the  cable  dispatch  be  correct)  in  a  theatre  after  attend- 
ance at  a  ball,  and  that  the  intelligence  reached  his  oldest 


THE   THEATRE.  33 

brother,  the  Prince  of  Wales — a  notorious  theatre-goer 
— when  the  latter  was  present  at  a  race-course.  Neither 
regal  nor  refined  society  can  elevate  the  ball  and  the 
theatre  above  the  low  plane  where  the  Bible  places 
them. 

In  stating  that  some  of  the  most  violent  enemies  of  the 
stage  are  those  whose  sermons  are  rather  acted  than 
preached,  whose  dissertations  are  "  often  greeted  with 
unseemly  laughter  and  applause,  and  their  salaries  are 
regulated  by  the  success  they  achieve  in  drawing  audi- 
ences," this  writer  conveys  a  reproof  which  it  were  well 
that  some  who  claim  to  be  prophets  of  the  Most  High 


Ministerial  "  stagi- 
ness"  and  Sunday- 
school  fiction. 


should  heed.  Further,  in  giving  expres- 
sion to  the  opinion  that  the  stage  does 
no  more  than  is  done  by  works  of  fiction  in  showing  up 
wickedness,  he  only  places  the  two  in  that  near  connec- 
tion which  Friends  have  always  claimed  that  they  occu- 
pied ;  and  this  point  is  emphasized  when  he  alludes  to 
the  character  of  some  of  the  fiction  to  be  found  in  "  Sun- 
day-school" libraries.  Here,  too,  are  stumbling-blocks 
which  the  professing  Church  of  Christ  ought  speedily  to 
remove. 

The  last  of  these  apologists  for  the  stage  makes  much 
of  the  forbearance  of  playwrights  and  stage  performers 
in  not  "showing  up"  clergymen  of  proved  wickedness 
as  they  deserve  to  be,  arguing  from  thence  that  theat- 
rical representations  and  the  actors  therein  should  be 
handled  with  corresponding  lenity.  It  seems  scarcely 
worth  while  to  follow  this  pleader's  argument,  for  he, 


34  THE   THEATRE. 

like  Gibber  and  Garrick,  would  defend  the  acknowledged 
immoralities  of  the  stage  upon  the  ground  of  their  presen- 
tation being  the  fault  of  the  public  in  clamoring  for  plays  of 
the  most  debasing  sort.  Nevertheless,  when  he  discourses 
of  the  high  intellectual  standard  and  pure  moral  condition 
The  legitimate  °f  the  "legitimate"  stage,  instancing  a 
theatre  in  this  city  where  "  the  stage  took 
excellent  shape,"  I  am  enabled  specifically  to  reply  (citing 
a  memorandum  of  some  years  since,  which  it  now  seems 
singular  to  me  that  I  should  have  made) — "  It  was  pub- 
licly stated  a  few  weeks  ago  that  a  play  had  just  been  en- 
acted at  the  theatre  of  first  repute  in  this  city  which,  some 
years  ago,  the  censors  of  even  the  city  of  Paris  refused 
to  license."  Clearly  it  cannot  be  safe  to  follow  the  way 
of  these  easy  advisers  and  defenders  of  that  which  is  in- 
defensible, who  may  have  need,  above  many,  to  consider 
the  Scripture  caution  that  "  he  that  diggeth  a  pit  shall 
fall  into  it,  and  whoso  breaketh  a  hedge,  a  serpent  shall 
bite  him." 

One  of  the  latest  essays  upon  the  theatre  is  an  eighty- 
two  page  tractate  entitled  "  Plain  Talks  about  the  Thea- 
tre," by  the  Presbyterian  minister,  Herrick  Johnson.  The 
writer  gives  a  brief  historical  account  of  the  stage,  show- 
ing how  the  law  of  deterioration  as  to  dramatic  represen- 
tations found  illustration  in  the  case  of  the  Greeks, 
Romans,  and  Hindoos,  and  afterward,  with  respect  to  the 
modern  European  and  American  stage,  which  had  its 
rise  during  the  middle  ages.  Humbling  to  our  claim  to 
superior  civilization  and  morals  is  his  affirmation  that 


THE   THEATRE.  35 


tneither  in  China  nor  Japan  are  women  allowed  to  per- 
form. H.  Johnson  also  shows  how  the  several  attempts 
at  reformation  of  the  theatre  in  England 


and   America   have  signally  failed,  the 


The  stage,  as  ex- 
isting "  under  a  law 


of  degeneracy." 

efforts  being  spasmodic  and  rendered 
nugatory  by  the  popular  demand  for  dramas  of  the  sen- 
sational and  better-paying  character;  and  he  hence 
concludes  that,  "  supported  by  the  record  of  the  past  and 
present,  by  the  very  nature  of  theatrical  representations, 
and  by  the  necessities  of  the  case,  the  stage,  as  an  insti- 
tution, has  wit  kin  itself  the  seeds  of  corruption,  and  exists 
only  under  a  law  of  degeneracy*" 

Confirming  his  assertion  as  to  the  vileness  of  the  very 
large  majority  of  stage  plays  by  specific  references  to  the 
plots  of  a  number  of  the  most  popular,  we  are  fully  pre- 
pared to  conclude,  with  Wesley,  that  the  theatre  is  "  the  sink 
of  all  profaneness  and  debauchery,"  or,  with  Archbishop 
Tillotson,  that  it  is  "the  devil's  chapel,  a  nursery  of  licen- 


Estjmate by  Wes|ey 

JSce"'  " 
and  Rusf»- 


tiousness  and  vice."  Vehement  in  his  op- 
position  to  the  theatre  was  that  eminent 
jurist,  Sir  Matthew  Hale;  Wilberforce 
was  equally  its  foe  ;  whilst  even  the  infidel  Rousseau  is 
found  exclaiming,  "  Where  would  be  the  prudent  mother 
who  would  dare  to  carry  her  daughter  to  this  dangerous 
school  ?  and  what  respectable  woman  would  not  think 
herself  dishonored  by  going  there  ?"  To  which  I  add 
this  faithful  denunciation  of  our  Dr.  Rush  :  "  I  will 
never  publish  to  the  world  by  going  to  the  theatre 
that  I  think  Jesus  Christ  is  a  hard  master  and  religion 


36  THE   THEATRE. 

an  unsatisfying  portion,  which  I  should  do  if  I  went  to 
the  devil's  ground  in  quest  of  happiness."* 

It  may  be  now  pertinent  to  say  something  concerning 
the  views  of  our  own  religious  Society  upon  this  subject. 
Thomas  Clarkson,  an  Episcopalian,  having  given  in  ex- 
tenso,  in  his  "  Portraiture  of  Quakerism,"  the  reasons  why 
the  Friends  condemn  the  theatre,  sums  up  the  argument 
as  follows : 

"  Here  we  are  taught  that  though  dramatic  pieces  had 
no  censurable  origin,  the  best  of  the  ancient  moralists 
condemned  them.  We  are  taught  that,  even  in  the  most 
favorable  light  in  which  we  can  view  them,  they  have 
been  thought  objectionable;  that  is,  that  where  they 
have  pretended  to  teach  morality,  they 
have  inculcated  rather  the  virtue  of 
heathenism  than  the  strict,  though  mild,  morality  of  the 
Gospel;  and  where  they  have  attempted  to  extirpate 
vice,  they  have  don^  it  rather  by  making  it  appear  ridic- 
ulous, than  by  teaching  men  to  avoid  it  as  evil  or  for 
the  love  of  virtue.  We  are  taught  that,  as  it  is  our  duty 
to  love  our  neighbor  and  to  be  solicitous  for  his  spiritual 
welfare,  we  ought  not,  under  a  system  which  requires 
simplicity  and  truth,  to  encourage  him  to  be  what  he  is 
not,  or  to  personate  a  character  which  is  not  his  own. 
We  are  taught  that  it  is  the  general  tendency  of  the 
diversions  of  the  stage,  by  holding  out  false  morals  and 

*To  nn  excellent  tract  styled  "Can  I  Attend  the  Theatre?"  by  A.  L.  O.  W. ,  pub- 
lished by  the  American  Tract  Society,  and  well-adapted  for  general  circulation,  I  am 
indebted  for  the  above  quotations  and  some  other  matter  which  occurs  in  this  essay. 


Clarkson  on  Quak- 
ers and  the  Theatre. 


THE   THEATRE.  37 

prospects,  to  weaken  the  sinews  of  morality;  by  disquali- 
fying for  domestic  enjoyments,  to  wean  from  a  love  of 
home;  by  accustoming  to  light  thoughts  and  violent 
excitements  of  the  passions,  to  unfit  for  the  pleasures  of 
religion.  We  are  taught  that  diversions  of  this  nature 
particularly  fascinate,  and  that  if  they  fascinate  they  sug- 
gest repetitions.  And,  finally,  we  are  taught  that  the 
early  Christians  on  their  conversion,  though  before  this 
time  they  had  followed  them  as  among  the  desirable 
pleasures  of  their  lives,  relinquished  them  on  the  princi- 
ples now  explained." 

Upon  the  single  point  as  to  dissimulation  and  opposi- 
tion to  truth  which  stage-acting  involves — a  very  import- 
ant point,  indeed,  because  "  without  "  the  eternal  city  are 
"  whosoever  loveth  and  maketh  a  lie  " — I  quote  from 
Clarkson's  argument  in  full : 

"  They  [the  Friends]  hold  it  also  to  be  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  Christianity.  For  men  who  personate  charac- 
ters in  this  way  express  joy  and  grief  when  in  reality 
there  may  be  none  of  these  feelings  in  their  hearts.  They 
express  noble  sentiments,  when  their  whole  lives  may 
have  been  remarkable  for  their  meanness, 


Play-acting  speci- 
ally condemned  be- 
cause of  its  violating 
the  truth. 


and  go  often  afterward  and  wallow  in 
sensual  delights.  They  personate  the 
virtuous  character  to-day,  and  perhaps  to-morrow  that  of 
the  rake,  and,  in  the  latter  case,  they  utter  his  profligate 
sentiments  and  speak  his  profane  language.  Now  Chris- 
tianity requires  simplicity  and  truth.  It  allows  no  man 
to  pretend  to  be  what  he  is  not ;  and  it  requires  great 


38  THE   THEATRE. 

circumspection  of  its  followers  with  respect  to  what  they 
may  utter,  because  it  makes  every  man  accountable  for 
his  idle  words.  The  Quakers,  therefore,  are  of  opinion 
that  they  cannot,  as  men  either  professing  Christian 
tenets  or  Christian  love,  encourage  others  to  assume  false 
characters  or  to  personate  those  which  are  not  their 
own." 

In  another  place  Clarkson  says  respecting  the  Friends 
of  his  day:  "I  know  of  no  people  who  regard  truth 
more,  than  the  Quakers.  Their  whole  system  leads  and 
directs  to  truth.  One  of  the  peculiarities  of  their  lan- 
guage, or  their  rejection  of  many  of  the  words  which 
other  people  use — because  they  consider  them  as  not  re- 
ligiously appropriate  to  the  objects  of  which  they  are  the 
symbols — serves  as  a  constant  admonition  to  them  to 
speak  the  truth." 

Tried  by  this  tenet,  therefore,  and  with  no  need  to 
seek  for  any  other  objection,  the  "  false  frenzies"  of 
stage -players  (as  Bernard  styles  them)  must  be  abund- 
antly condemned  by  those  claiming  fellowship  with  the 
religious  Society  of  Friends.  Indeed,  it  was  very  much 

upon  this  ground  that,  four  and  twenty 
Bernard  and  Rous-  .  c-    i  j  j      Ai 

seau  against  false      centuries     ago,    bolon    denounced    the 

frenzies.  ,  r  ..  , 

actor  s   profession    as      tending,   by  its 

simulation  of  false  character  and  by  its  expression  of 
sentiment  not  genuine  or  sincere,  to  corrupt  the  integrity 
of  human  dealings."  Upon  the  same  principle  did  Rous- 
seau frankly  condemn  the  stage.  "  It  is,"  says  he,  "  the 
art  of  dissimulation  ;  of  assuming  a  foreign  character,  and 


Profanity  of  simula- 
ted prayer. 


THE   THEATRE.  39 

of  appearing  differently  from  what  a  man  really  is  ;  of 
flying  into  a  passion  without  a  cause,  and  of  saying  what 
he  does  not  think  as  naturally  as  if  he  really  did  ;  in  a 
word,  of  forgetting  himself,  to  personate  others." 

Accompanying  this  personation  is  the  frequent  pro- 
fanity involved,  in  word  and  in  attitude.  A  lady  gave 
this  as  the  immediate  cause  impelling 
her  to  renounce  the  theatre  :  "  As  she 
beheld  actors  fall  upon  their  knees,  and  in  simulated  de- 
votion offer  up  prayers  to  Heaven,  a  revelation  of  both 
subject  and  surroundings  suddenly  flashed  upon  her." 

It  must  have  been  near  the  time  that  Clarkson  was 
penning  his  "  Portraiture"  that  Elizabeth  Fry  (then 
Gurney),  going  up  from  Norwich  to  London,  was'afforded 
opportunity  by  her  father  to  enter  upon  a  previously  ar- 
ranged season  of  gayety  in  the  pleasure-loving  city. 
Sprightly  and  very  much  admired  though  she  was,  she 
had  but  a  short  time  previously  been 


n  .,*  . 

to  reflect  with  seriousness  upon 


Elizabeth  Fry    re- 

nounces  the   thea- 


tre. 
the  tendency  of  her  then  course  of  life 

through  listening  to  the  preaching  of  William  Savery, 
from  Philadelphia.  In  her  journal,  which  she  began 
early  to  keep,  she  says  at  this  time  (1798)  in  commenting 
upon  a  visit  to  the  theatre  : 

"  I  own  I  enter  into  the  gay  world  reluctantly.  I  do 
not  like  plays.  I  think  them  so  artificial  that  they  are  to 
me  not  interesting,  and  all  seem  so,  so  very  far  from  pure 
virtue  and  nature.  There  is  acting,  music,  scenery  to 
perfection  ;  but  I  was  glad  when  it  was  over." 


40  THE    THEATRE. 

Obedient  to  the  heavenly  vision,  she  immediately 
thereafter  wholly  gave  up  attending  public  places  of 
amusement,  for  she  afterward  averred — "  I  saw  they  ten- 
ded to  promote  evil,  led  many  from  the  path  of  rectitude, 
and  brought  them  into  much  sin."  Consider  the  loss 
not  only  to  "  Outcast  London  "but  to  the  world  at  large, 
had  Elizabeth  Fry  come  to  a  different  decision,  and  con- 
cluded that  the  theatre,  being  intended  to  "  amuse  and 
instruct,"  it  was  little  worth  while  for  her — a  mere  girl 
of  seventeen — to  disturb  herself  over  the  wretchedness  of 
the  metropolis  or  the  ills  of  a  world  which  it  must  be 
quite  out  of  her  power  to  mend  or  measurably  alleviate. 
How  little  she  knew  then  that  in  turning  away  from  the 
theatre  she  should  ever  by  an  act  of  hers  give  occasion 
for  such  a  remark  as  that  which  was  made  by  a  certain 
nobleman,  who,  seeing  how  she  addressed  the  women 
felons  at  Newgate,  and  how  reaching  were  her  pathetic 
words,  observed  that  it  was  the  "  deepest  tragedy "  he 
had  ever  witnessed. 

Showing  a  like  apprehension  of  the  unsatisfying  nature 
of  the  world's  entertainments  was  the  experience  of 
Mary  Capper,  who  at  the  age  of  twenty-one — being  then 
a  member  of  the  Established  Church  of  England — came 
to  London  from  her  parent's  home  at  Rugeley,  Stafford- 
shire. She  was  on  her  way  to  France  for  the  benefit  of 
her  health.  She  says  (1776) : 

"  My  brother  Jasper  called  and  took  us  to  dine  with 
my  brother  William.  After  we  had  coffee  we  called  a 
coach,  intending  to  go  and  spend  the  evening  with  my 


Experience  of  Mary 
Capper. 


THE   THEATRE.  41 

uncle  Capper,  in  Berkeley  Square,  but  an  unaccountable 
whim  entering  the  head  of  my  brother  William  (promp- 
ted, I  have  no  doubt,  by  his  wish  to  give 
us  pleasure),  he  asked  if  we  should  have 
any  objection  to  see  the  opera  to  be  performed  that 
night.  I  was  inclined  to  refuse,  but  fancying  that  my 
friend  had  a  desire  to  hear  [the  actress-singer],  I  accom- 
panied her  without  reluctance.  My  disappointment  and 
disgust  are  not  to  be  described ;  I  had  heard  much  of 
the  shining  qualities  of  [the  actress],  and  therefore  ex- 
pected something  extraordinary;  but  of  all  the  figures  I 
ever  saw  she  is  the  most  miserable,  and  her  impudence 
is  inconceivable  In  the  midst  of  my  chagrin,  I  could 
not  help  feeling  emotions  of  pity  for  the  poor,  unhappy 
wretch,  who,  in  her  serious  moments,  must  call  to  mind 
a  life  spent  in  such  a  manner  ;  how  melancholy  a  retro- 
spect! I  may  truly  say,  my  intended  pleasure  was  turned 
into  actual  pain.  I  was  very  ill  afterward."  And  so 
this  dedicated  handmaid  of  the  Lord,  whose  helpful  let- 
ters from  the  quiet  rural  home  of  her  later  life  must  have 
been  blessed  to  many  of  those  who  received  them,  was 
likewise  preserved  for  a  better  purpose  than  that  of  fol- 
lowing the  world's  alluring  pleasures. 

Very  like  a  companion  piece  to  the  foregoing — the 
place  being  Paris  instead  of  London — was  the  experience 
in  this  matter  of  the  late  Christine  Alsop  (then  Majolier), 
who,  at  the  age  of  twenty -two,  being  on  her  way  from 
the  South  of  France  to  the  home  of  William  Allen,  in 
England,  stopped  for  a  brief  rest  in  Paris.  She  was  ac- 


42  THE    THEATRE. 

companied  by  a  brother.  Having  gone  to  the  same  hotel 
as  the  one  selected  by  two  of  their  traveling  companions 
in  the  diligence,  they  accepted  the  invitation  of  these 
acquaintances  (Christine  reluctantly)  to  go  with  them  to 
the  Theatre  Frangais.  Observing  the  dissipated  looks  of 
those  around  her,  she  felt  a  sort  of  horror  at  being  in 
such  a  place,  and  thus  instructively  remarks : 

"  I  durst  not  ask  to  go  out,  but  I  was  very  unhappy. 
I  felt  ashamed  that  any  one  should  see  my  Friend's  bon- 
net, so  I  took  it  off  and  put  it  under  the  seat.  The 
dresses,  both  of  the  men  and  women,  were  such  as  I  was 
ashamed  to  see.  Then  followed  one  of 
the  worst  of  the  representations.  I  shut 


Experience    of 
Christine  Majolier. 


my  eyes  and  dared  not  look,  and  at  my  solicitation  our 
friends  left  the  place.  I  have  never  forgotton  the  cir- 
cumstance or  my  impressions  at  that  time ;  and  I  have 
often  felt  glad  that  the  scene  was  of  such  a  description, 
because  my  judgment  was  then  quite  settled  ;  and  though 
some  who  are  in  the  practice  of  attending  such  places 
have  often  tried  to  persuade  me  to  go,  telling  me  that  my 
judgment  was  formed  on  the  worst  example  possible,  I 
have  never  felt  at  liberty  to  do  so,  persuaded  as  I  am 
that  if  those  who  do  attend  these  places  are  not  shocked, 
it  is  because  they  have  been  led  to  it  by  degrees,  and 
that  if  a  woman's  modesty  can  be  tints  blunted,  the  influ- 
ence must  be  unfavorable  on  her  mind." 

To  which  I  would  add  the  remark  that  when  any, 
in  going  to  a  place  of  entertainment,  find  themselves 
tempted  to  cast  aside  the  plain  or  simple  attire  which 


Attending  the  opera 
gives     countenance 


THE   THEATRE  43 

they  may  have  customarily  worn,  let  them  consider  how 
they  are  therein  departing  from  the  truth  and  treading 
upon  ground  whereon  they  feel  that  Christ  cannot 
bear  them  company. 

The  writer  may  be  allowed  briefly  to  add,  with  respect 
to  his  own  experience  (being  previous  to  his  uniting  in 
membership  with  a  religious  society),  that  his  great  fond- 
ness for  music  drew  him  into  attendance  at  the  opera, 
which  he  held  to  be  less  objectionable  than  the  theatre. 
Nevertheless,  being  one  evening  on  his  way  to  an  enter- 
tainment of  this  kind,  and  but  a  few  steps  from  his  home 
in  the  city,  he  was.  met  in  the  way  by 

the   merciful  Spirit  of  Christ,  who  rave      giv__ 

to  the  ballet. 

him  to  see  that  by  attendance  at  such  a 
place — though  accounted  the  first  of  its  class — he  was 
countenancing  performances  concerning  which  he  would 
have  no  peace  were  his  own  brother  or  sister,  or  other 
loved  relative  or  friend,  among  the  singers  and  actors  ; 
that  it  was  not  a  resort  where  humble,  godly  people  were 
likely  to  be  found,  and  therefore  could  not  be  a  safe  re- 
sort for  him  ;  that  the  habit  was  an  expensive  one,  as  well 
as  wasteful  of  time,  and  that  it  was  one  which  was  grow- 
ing upon  him.  Immediately  turning  about,  so  effectually 
was  he  convinced,  that  (he  can  gratefully  say)  he  never 
again  attended  the  opera,  or  even  had  a  desire  to  do  so. 
It  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  say  here,  respecting  the 
plea  of  many  "  church-going "  people  whose  musical 
tastes  lead  them  to  attend  the  opera,  yet  who  would  not 
be  seen  at  a  theatre,  that  the  ballet  is  an  invariable,  or 


44  THE   THEATRE. 

almost  invariable,  accompaniment  of  the  rendition  of 
opera.  In  giving  assent,  therefore,  to  an  unseemly 
public  display  so  morally  damaging  to  the  performers 
as  is  the  ballet,  they  must,  if  they  have  given  the  matter 
any  serious  thought  at  all,  be  doing  despite  to  the  spirit 
of  grace  in  their  hearts,  unless,  indeed,  that  God-given 
monitor  and  preserver  from  the  world's  evils  has  already 
ceased  to  be  tender. 

Woman's  appearance  upon  the  stage,  it  will  be  freely 

admitted,  did  not  reform  it.     Among  the  ancient  Greeks 

the  actors  were  invariably  males— women  being  excluded 

Woman's  appear-      from   witnessing   comedies,  though  ad- 

ance  on  the  stage  .  ..  ... 

did  not  reform  it.  mitted  to  tragedies.  Women  were,  and 
I  believe  still  are,  prohibited  as  actors  upon  the  Chinese 
stage ;  while  in  Europe  they  did  not  so  appear  until  the 
seventeenth  century — first,  in  France,  and,  a  little  later, 
in  England,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second.  Of  old, 
the  dance  of  the  daughter  of  Herodias  compassed  the 
death  of  the  prophet  who  proclaimed  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  God :  in  this  generation,  none  may  number  the 
slain  of  the  ballet  and  of  woman's  other  immodest  and 
degrading  appearances  in  the  public  play-house.  Viewing 
the  signal  dishonor  thus  done  the  sex,  it  would  seem  as 
though  there  might  in  this  connection,  and  in  con- 
nection with  the  demoralizing  literature  of  the  day,  be  a 
field  for  dedicated  labor  by  woman  in  woman's  behalf, 
which  has  hitherto  been  not  much  occupied. 

While  it  is,  I   know,  the  boast  of  those  who  move  in 
fashionable  life  that  they  are  well-versed  in  fiction,  and 


The  pious  Nonna  no 
theatre-goer. 


THE   THEATRE.  45 

that  they  would  hold  themselves  quite  disgraced  could 
they  not  say  they  had  seen  the  diief  plays  and  heard  all 
the  noted  singers  in  opera,  yet  a  better 
record  for  any  Christian  will  it  be  if  it 
can  be  said  of  such  a  one  what  was  said  of  the  pious 
Nonna  by  her  son,  the  celebrated  Gregory  Nazianzen, 
who,  enumerating  her  virtues,  began  with  this, — "  That 
she  never  visited  the  theatre." 

Leaving  individual  experiences,  let  us  next  consider 
the  character  of  some  of  the  temptations  through  which 
the  young  are  led  to  attend  the  theatre,  as  well  as  some 
of  the  results  following  therefrom.  To  quote  again  from 
the  tract,  "  Can  I  Attend  the  Theatre?":  "The  present - 
director  of  the  city  prison  in  Paris  says  :  '  If  a  new  play 
of  a  vicious  character  has  been  put  on  the  boards,  I  very 
soon  find  it  out  by  the  number  of  young  fellows  who 
come  into  my  custody.'  *  *  '  Oh,  that  theatre  /'  said  the 
agonized  mother  of  a  felon  son  ;  '  he  was  a  virtuous, 
kind  youth  till  that  theatre  proved  his  ruin.'  The  in- 
evitable effect  of  the  play-house  is  the  corruption  of 
youth.  Prof.  Knowles  states  that  at  a  juvenile  prison  it 
was  ascertained  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  boys  began 
their  career  in  vice  by  stealing  money  to 
buy  theatre  tickets ;  and  a  keeper  of  a 
juvenile  prison  in  Boston  gave  testimony  that  '  of  twenty 
young  men  confined  for  crime,  seventeen  confessed  that 
they  were  first  tempted  to  steal  by  a  desire  to  purchase 
tickets  to  visit  the  theatre.'  Who  has  not  seen  famished- 
looking  boys  scanning  with  keen  interest  the  glaring  bills 


The  theatre  an  in- 
citer  to  crime. 


46  THE   THEATRE. 

that  disfigure  our  streets,  and  apparently  resolving,  by 
fair  means  or  foul,  to  gain  admittance  to  the  play  !  Of 
fifteen  young  men  from  the  country,  employed  in  a  pub- 
lishing house  in  New  York,  thirteen,  within  a  few  years, 
were  led  to  destruction  by  the  play-house." 

But  what  led  these  boys  to  desire  to  attend  the  play  ? 
In  very  many  cases  they  were  doubtless  brought  to  it  by 
the  morally-destructive  reading  matter  which  they  hab- 
itually handled;  for  true  it  is  that  there  are  thousands  of 
our  youth  whose  literature  is  limited  to  the  recitals  of 
crime.  Says  a  writer  in  a  Methodist  weekly  of  recent 
date :  "  While  visiting  the  State  Prison  in  Indiana,  a 
short  time  ago,  the  chaplain  of  the  institution  told  me 
that  out  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  prisoners  who 
were  then  confined  in  the  prison  inclosure,  and  who  were 
convicted  before  they  became  of  age, 
ninety-two  attributed  their  crimes  and  con- 
sequent convictions  to  the  fact  of  their  minds  having 
been  corrupted  and  poisoned  by  reading  the  vile  and  false 
papers  and  books  that  are  to  be  everywhere  found 
throughout  this  land  to-day." 

The  process  of  making  bad  boys  with  rapidity  is 
graphically  told  as  follows  by  a  local  paper  in  comment- 
ing upon  late  disorderly  occurrences  by  lads  of  Milwau- 
kee— not  acted  upon  "  the  boards,"  but  in  real  life.  I 
presume  no  excuse  need  be  offered  for  its  insertion, 
as  the  item  brings  us  nearer  to  the  causes  which  im- 
pel to  theatre-going.  The  excerpt  is  but  one  of  scores 
giving  information  of  a  similar  tenor  which  might  be 


The  agency  of  per- 
nicious literature. 


THE   THEATRE.  47 

culled  in  a  short  time  from  the  columns  of  the   daily 
press. 

"The  small  boys  in  Milwaukee  have  risen  in  their 
cunning  and  in  their  might  and  carried  consternation  to 
the  heart  of  every  householder.  Within  the  past  month 
there  have  been  nine  incendiary  fires  within  a  single 
ward  of  that  city,  where  the  small  boys  have  a  Buffalo 
Bill  organization.  According  to  the  despatches,  the  city 
is  virtually  in  a  state  of  siege.  The  police  force  has  been 
doubled,  a  tower  watch  has  been  erected  by  the  direction 
of  the  Fire  Chief,  the  Chief  of  Police  is  in  receipt  of 
letters  threatening  him  with  assassination,  the  local  un- 
derwriters are  holding  daily  meetings,  and  they  and 
Mayor  Stowell  are  offering  special  rewards  for  the 
detection  of  the  incendiaries.  All  this  in  the  great 
German  town,  that  has  heretofore  boasted  of  being  the 
most  beer-drinking  and  the  most  orderly  community  of 
its  size  on  the  continent !  This  state  of  things  is  a  sad 
commentary  upon  the  sort  of  literature  on  which  Mil- 
waukee's humorist  has  been  bringing  up  the  boys  of  the 
vicinage.  He  has  sown  the  wind  and  now  he  is  reaping 
the  whirlwind  of  bad  boys.  His  seemingly  harmless 
pleasantries,  in  which  the  pranks  of  precocious  mischief 
are  made  the  source  of  indulgent  laughter,  seem  to  be 
having  an  unexpected  result.  George  W.  Peck,  who,  we 
believe,  before  he  became  a  professional  humorist,  was 
himself  the  Chief  of  Police  in  a  Western  city,  ought  to  be 
put  under  bonds  not  to  write  any  more  books  or  stories 
about  bad  boys." 


48  THE    THEATRE. 

The  process  of  educating  the  youthful  mind  to  a  liking 
for  the  pantomine,  comedy,  and  other  theatricals  by  feed- 
ing it  upon  such  pabulum  as  comic  papers,  silly  and 
Connection  between  grotesquely  illustrated  magazine  articles, 

juvenile  pranks  and  t        «•• 

overt  crime.  and  the  like,  is  not  difficult  to  perceive. 

A  judicious  parent,  if  he  deems  it  worth  while  to  advert  to 
the  odd  or  simply  ludicrous  pranks  of  his  little  ones,  will 
generally  take  occasion  to  speak  of  these  droll  perform- 
ances when  the  subjects  of  them  are  not  present.  When 
we  get  beyond  what  is  only  humorous,  and  take  up  with 
silly  exaggerations  and  distortions  of  the  truth,  we  offend 
against  the  Scripture  injunction  as  to  our  yea  and  nay, 
and  are  welcoming  that  which  "  cometh  of  evil."  So,  when 
a  fondness  for  mimicry  and  playing  practical  jokes  has 
been  developed  in  their  boys,  the  parents  of  these  may 
be  sure  that  the  safety-line  has  been  passed,  and  that 
prayerful  solicitude  and  active  counteracting  efforts  are 
more  in  place  than  is  "  indulgent  laughter." 

The  connection  which  I  am  endeavoring  to  show  is 
apparent  in  such  items  of  daily  intelligence  as  this:  Six 
child  burglars,  nine  to  twelve  years  of  age,  were  arrested 
in  Paterson,  New  Jersey.  They  constituted  a  regularly 
organized  band,  and  when  arrested  were  on  their  way 
from  a  cheap  theatre. 

What  will  they  have  probably  seen  at  the  cheap  theatre  ? 
This  flashy  advertising  sheet  (which  claims  a  circulation 
of  five  hundred  thousand),  profusely  illustrated  with  pic- 
tures of  brigand-looking  heroes  and  Indians  dashing 
headlong  over  the  plains,  will  tell  us.  It  is  an  invitation 


THE    THEATRE.  49 

to  the  play  of  "  Buffalo  Bill's  Wild  West— America's 
National  Entertainment,"  giving  details  of  "the  startling 
and  soul-stirring  attack  on  the  Deadwood  mail-coach  by 
Indians,"  and  a  promise  of  marvelous  representations  of 
free  life  on  the  frontier,  well  calculated  to  turn  the  heads 
of  errant  boys  and  set  them  upon  lives  of  adventure  and 
crime.  That  this  story  and  play  have  had  precisely  this 
effect,  the  late  abundant  police  captures  of  lads  going 
West  with  stolen  money  in  their  pockets,  pistols  and 
knives  in  their  belts,  and  dime  novels  and  pictures  of 
actors  as  part  of  their  limited  baggage,  sufficiently  attest. 
This  "  City  of  Brotherly  Love  "  was,  last  New  Year's 
Day  (1884),  the  field  of  such  a  display  of  masqueraders, 
mostly  boys,  as  would  seem  to  indicate  how  general 
must  have  been  their  acquaintance  with  stage  representa- 
tions. Before  noon  of  the  previous  day  two  hundred  and 
four  permits  to  parade  had  been  issued  by  the  Mayor  to 
as  many  clubs  and  social  organizations,  who,  accordingly, 
in  their  fantastic  attire,  representative  of  clowns,  harle- 
quins, mimics,  etc.,  paraded  and  capered  around  in  a 
manner  which  should  have  called  for  the  shedding  of 
tears  by  the  beholders  rather  than  for  j  Juvenile  masquera. 
that  indulgence  in  merriment  or  other  |  ders- 
exhibition  of  approval  which  was  too  generally  evoked. 
One  of  these  hilarious,  reckless  crews  I  met — lads  of 
perhaps  eight  to  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  about  twenty 
in  number.  They  had  halted  at  the  side  door  of  a 
liquor-saloon,  and  noisily  accepting  the  invitation  of  the 
laughing  proprietor  to  step  within,  sat  down  to  the  long 


50  THE   THEATRE. 

lunch  table,  while  the  chuckling  rum-dealer — his  arms 
a-kimbo  as  he  smiled  upon  the  young  recruits  whom 
he  had  gathered  into  his  den — only  leered  a  response  to 
the  warning  not  to  deal  them  out  any  beer  or  other  in- 
toxicating drink.  Asking  myself  how  the  fathers  and 
mothers  of  at  least  some  of  those  boys  would  have  felt 
had  they  seen  this  saddening  sight,  I  could  only  turn 
away  with  the  scarcely  suppressed  ejaculation,  "  How 
long,  O  Lord!  must  such  things  be?" 

A  few  weeks  later  there  appeared  in  one  of  our  dailies 
a  communication  from  a  mother,  signing  herself  "  Anx- 
ious Heart,"  in  which  counsel  was  craved  on  account  of  her 
wayward  son,  a  lad  of  fifteen,  who  persisted  in  running 
the  streets  with  bad  boys  and  in  spending  his  wages  at 
places  of  amusement.  Here  we  behold  the  other  side  of 
the  merry-andrew's  picture,  which  the  amused  public 
cares  not  at  all  to  see. 

I  would  plead  here  with  those  parents,  who,  with  true 
love  for  their  offspring,  desire  them  to  escape  the  hurtful 
publications,  theatre-going,  and  other  contaminations  of  a 
"  world  lying  in  wickedness,"  to  see  to  it  that  they  them- 
selves set  a  good  example  in  testifying  (among  other 
things)  against  the  purveyors  of  pernicious  literature. 
The  proprietor  of  a  news-stand  near  a  much-frequented 
railroad  depot,  upon  being  mildly  expostulated  with  by 
the  writer  for  offering  low  papers  like  the  Police  Gazette 
for  sale,  defiantly  responded  that  he  would  sell  anything 
the  law  allowed  him  to.  Not  patronizing  the  owners  of 
sta  ids  where  such  debasing  publications  are  kept  may 


THE    THEATRE.  51 

at  times  cause  one  to  go  out  of  his  way  for  his  custom- 
ary paper,  or  even  to  miss  getting  it  altogether ;  yet  I 
cannot  doubt  but  that  a  Christian,  jealous 
of  the  honor  of  his  Master,  is  as  much 


Faithful   testifying 
against     pernicious 


aga  

.n.  ,r  literature  needed. 

called  to  submit  to  so  trifling  a  sacrifice, 
as  he  is  to  keep  away  from  saloons  where  vile  liquors  are 
handed  over  the  counter.  And  if  it  be  said  that  this  is 
too  slight  a  matter  to  make  an  issue  about — that  there  is 
here  very  little  of  letting  one's  "  light  shine  " — I  reply  that 
there  is,  nevertheless,  a  reward  promised  by  the  Highest 
for  the  least  act  of  dedication  done  (not  as  of  works,  but 
of  grace)  unto  Him  in  secret.  It  was  said  by  Fenelon  : 
"  He  who  learns,  by  Divine  assistance,  to  make  a  right 
application  in  small  matters  of  a  spiritual  nature  will 
not  fail  to  accumulate  much  treasure,  as  well  as  will  he 
who  is  attentive  in  temporal  concerns." 

Likewise  should  the  parent  exercise  the  same  discrim- 
ination as  to  the  character  of  the  daily  paper  which  he 
brings  to  or  has  served  at  his  home.  There  are  few 
editors  or  publishers  of  such  papers  who  keep  posted  in 
their  offices  (and  who,  upon  penalty  of  dismissal,  insist 
upon  its  observance)  a  notice  like  this,  which  is  to  be 
found  in  the  office  of  a  daily  in  one  of  our  large  cities  ; 
"  Nothing  shall  appear  in  the  columns  of  the  Daily  News 
which  a  young  lady  may  not  with  propriety  read  aloud 
before  a  mixed  company."  According  to  the  Christian 
Weekly:  "  An  examination  recently  made  showed  that 
in  the  five  leading  New  York  morning  papers,  excluding 
the  market  reports  and  shipping  news,  an  average  of 


52  THE    THEATRE. 

thirty  per  cent,  of  the  space  given  to  reading-matter  was 
devoted  to  accounts  of  murders,  suicides,  and  crimes  of 
every  grade,  dressed  up  in  all  the  circumstantial  details 
possible  to  be  obtained."  Knowing,  therefore,  what 
must  be  the  result  upon  the  impressible  minds  of 
the  young  of  the  regular  reading  of  a  mass  of  such 
details,  the  parent  who  has  a  concern  for  the  moral 
training  of  his  children  will  be  always  anxious  when 
he  sees  them  with  a  newspaper  (unselected  by  himself) 
in  hand. 

We  therefore  reach  the  point  that  back  of  the  bad 
reading  which  stimulates  to  theatre-going  and  overt 
crime,  there  is  an  absence  of  that  parental  restraint  and 
tender  concern  which  ought  to  prevail,  so  that  it  is  in  a 


Absence  of  paren- 
tal restraint. 


great  measure  owing  to  this  lack  of  care 
that  these  hurtful  habits  are  permitted 
to  be  formed  and  to  get  the  mastery.  Nevertheless, 
when  the  attempt  is  made  to  discover  all  the  causes  of 
crime  commission,  especially  in  a  great  city,  we  need  to 
consider  the  temptations  of  the  drinking-saloon  ;  the 
pool,  billiard,  and  gambling  rooms ;  the  working  in  fac- 
tories, with  (in  very  many  cases)  the  demoralizing  asso- 
ciations connected  therewith;  the  contaminating  influ- 
ences of  close  crowding  in  tenement-houses, — all  of  these, 
and  others  unnamed,  in  connection  with  the  pernicious 
reading  and  the  low  theatres  and  music-halls  already 
remarked  upon.  When  we  weigh  all  these  influences 
thus  working  toward  the  reinforcement  of  the  kingdom 
of  Satan,  we  are  prepared  to  admit  that  a  great  deal  of 


THE   THEATRE.  53 

effort  may  be  expended,  only  to  be  largely  counteracted 
by  the  overpowering  evil. 

Thus,  Judge  Bulstrode,  of  Middlesex  County,  England 
(in  which  county  is  the  city  of  London),  expressed  the 
opinion  in  a  jury  charge  that  one  play-house  ruins  more 
souls  in  a  single  year  than  fifty  churches  save.  In  the 
report  of  the  Howard  Association,  of  London,  for  the 
year  1880,  it  was  stated  on  the  authority  of  the  chaplain 
of  Clerkenwell  Prison,  that  "  out  of  fifty  boys  sent  to  the 
prison  from  the  ages  of  9*^  to  16  years,  forty-eight  had 
been  Sunday-school  scholars;  that  forty-two  of  these 
had  attended  regularly,  and  twenty-nine  had  received 
prizes.  Now,  either  the  instruction  had  been  very  defec- 
tive, or  it  must  have  been  nullified  by  evil  influences." 

Further,  the  methods  of  attempted  cure  may  be  very 
unwisely  and  mischievously  employed.  For  example, 
a  wealthy  tobacco  manufacturer  in  one  of  our  cities  has 
recently  established  a  large  free  library  and  reading- 
room  for  his  employes,  with  the  object,  as  stated,  of  fur- 
nishing them  "a  place  where  they  can  pleasantly  and 
profitably  spend  their  Sundays  and  evenings  without 
cost."  In  so  far  as  the  undertaking  is  indicative  of  a 
feeling  of  real  and  generous  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the 
employer  for  his  work-people,  it  is  to  be  altogether  com- 
mended; but  as  we  learn  that  "in  addition,  there  are 
playing-cards,  chess,  dominoes,  and  other  games,"  the 
good  resultant  from  the  enterprise  will  be  likely 
to  be  counterbalanced  by  that  which  does  not  tend 
to  profit.  A  late  writer  in  a  London  magazine,  discours- 


54  THE    THEATRE. 

ing  upon  the  prolific  theme  of  the  poor  of  the  world's 
metropolis,  recommends  that  the  factory  girls,  etc.,  be 
Wise,  and  unwise  afforded  opportunities  for  indulging  in 
dancing,  gratuitous  music  being  likewise 
furnished.  The  well-to-do,  argues  this  reasoner,  have 
their  high-priced  theatres  and  fancy  balls ;  the  poor 
should  not  be  deprived  of  their  free  music  and 
dancing.  Such  alleviations  may  suit  those,  whether  the 
rich  or  the  poverty-stricken,  whose  ken  does  not  consider 
the  never-ending  life  beyond  the  grave  for  which  present 
preparation  needs  to  be  made;  yet  the  one  message  of 
George  Fox,  John  Wesley,  and  Rowland  Hill,  to  all 
alike,  in  London  or  otherwheres,  was  that  the  Gospel  was 
commanded  to  be  preached,  and  that,  accepting  its  free 
proffers  of  forgiveness  and  mercy,  all  might  know  "  the 
unsearchable  riches  of  Christ "  and  be  partakers  of  the 
"  joy  that  is  past  finding  out."  With  the  love  of  God  in  the 
heart,  and  a  tempered  and  purified  purpose,  content  to 
do  the  Master's  bidding  within  the  narrow  way,  the  sad 
problem  of  city  life*  among  the  lowly  might  be  solved, 
and  the  promise  of  Scripture  be  fulfilled,  that  "  one  [shall] 
chase  a  thousand,  and  two  put  ten  thousand  to  flight." 

In  an  article  upon  "  Centres  of  Spiritual  Activity," 
published  the  past  winter  by  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  there 
occurs  an  interesting  account  of  carefully-planned  work 
which  is  carried  on  (by  the  Friends)  in  connection  with 
the  Bedford  Institute,  London.  The  following  extract 
may  throw  some  light  upon  the  problem  how  best  to 
combat  the  attractions  of  the  play-house  : 


THE   THEATRE.  55 

"  For  wet  weather  and  winter  months,  the  libraries, 
lectures,  discussion  classes,  and  similar  occupations  are 
rendered  available.  Occasionally,  industrial  exhibi- 
tions are  held;  and  these  are  found  to  be  among  the 
very  best  means  of  promoting  recreation  and  amusement 
in  connection  with  home  and  family  life.  The  Friends 
do  not  encourage  theatres  or  dancing  parties,  as  tending 
in  their  view  rather  to  foster  pleasure-loving  habits  un- 
favorable to  domestic  comfort  and  contentment ;  but  by 
offering  prizes  to  be  competed  for  by  men  and  women, 
children  and  adults,  and  including  a  large  variety  of 
handicraft  work,  as  carpentry,  cabinet  work,  metallurgy, 
carving,  drawing,  sewing,  tailoring,  cooking,  collections 
of  natural  history  objects,  etc.,  there  is  secured  for 
months  before  the  exhibitions  a  widely  diffused  and 
deeply  interested  activity  in  many  a  home,  which 
not  only  keeps  the  workers  out  of  mischief,  but  draws 
forth  their  skill  and  ability,  affords  them  a  prolonged 
pleasure  in  the  midst  of  their  families,  and  ultimately 
meets  with  the  sympathizing  appreciation  of  many  of 
their  friends  and  neighbors." 

I  believe  that  all  the  Churches  commonly  called  evan- 
gelical have  declared  their  opposition  to  or  have  cautioned 
against  attendance  at  the  theatre ;  but  it  is  lamentable  to 
know  that  in  many  instances  the  proceeds  of  theatrical 


Receiving  the  pro- 
ceeds cf  theatrical 
entertainments. 


entertainments  have  not  been  refused  by 

the  religious  bodies  to  whom  they  have 

been  tendered.    Here  is  another  serious  stumbling-block. 

It  was  Chrysostom  who  said,  "The  Church  receives  no 


56  THE   THEATRE. 

offerings  from  the  injurious."  In  our  own  day  there 
ought  be  no  exception  to  the  rule  of  refusal  such  as  was 
held  by  George  Miiller,  founder  of  the  British  orphan- 
houses,  who,  being  proffered  the  proceeds  of  a  theatre 
benefit,  promptly  returned  the  same  as  unlawful  to  be 
used  in  a  religious  cause,  though  he  was  at  the  time  in 
great  straits  for  money.  The  "  Sunday  Breakfast  Asso- 
ciation "  of  this  city  has  more  than  once  been  tendered  a 
theatrical  entertainment  for  its  benefit,  but  its  president 
has  said  that  he  will  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  steadily 
refuse  to  be  helped  by  any  such  methods. 

Respecting  legislation  by  the  States  or  General  Gov- 
ernment upon  this  matter,  the  United  States  Congress, 
in  1778,  adopted  a  resolution  that  stringent  measures  be 
taken  to  suppress  theatrical  entertainments,  horse-racing, 


U.  S.  Congress  of 
1778  against  the  the- 
atre. 


and  gaming  as  being  productive  of  idle- 
ness, dissipation,  and  general  depravity 
of  morals.  It  is  not  probable  that  any  such  resolution 
would  be  favorably  reported  now.  Interesting  in  this 
connection  is  the  following  from  the  diary  of  Mary  Cap- 
per, when  in  attendance  at  the  Yearly  Meeting,  London, 
in  1794:  "The  men's  meeting  sent  us  for  perusal  a  very 
interesting  communication  from  Friends  in  America; 
some  of  whom,  in  considering  the  late  awful  visitation 
of  some  parts  of  that  continent,  were  so  deeply  concerned 
for  the  general  good  that  they  had  believed  it  required 
from  them  to  represent  to  the  rulers  and  persons  in 
power  the  necessity  for  their  exerting  their  authority  to  en- 
deavor to  suppress  all  public  amusements,  gaming,  stage 


Suppression  of  the 
theatre  in  England. 


THE    THEATRE.  57 

entertainments,  and  dram-shops,  as  being  sources  of 
much  immorality  and  profaneness,  widely  estranging  the 
mind  from  God  and  godliness." 

As  bearing  on  the  phase  of  the  subject  just  touched 
upon,  it  may  be  well  to  refer  here  to  some  matters  rela- 
tive to  the  drama  in  Great  Britian  in  the  time  of  Eliza- 
beth and  in  the  century  succeeding.  During  Elizabeth's 
reign,  in  1580,  there  was  a  partial  suppression  of  the 
theatres.  It  is  related  that  certain  u  godly  citizens 
and  well-disposed  gentlemen,  of  London "  brought 
such  a  pressure  to  bear  upon  the  city  magistrates 
that  the  latter  petitioned  the  Queen  to  expel  all 
players  from  London,  and  permit  them 
to  destroy  every  theatre  within  their  jur- 
isdiction. Their  prayer  was  granted,  so  far  as  the  sev- 
eral play-houses  within  the  boundaries  of  the  city  proper 
were  concerned,  they  being  "  quite  put  down  and  sup- 
pressed by  these  religious  senators." 

Again,  at  the  time  of  the  Civil  War  in  England,  the 
drama  had  a  hard  struggle  for  existence.  An  act  of  Par- 
liament (1642),  in  view  of  the  disturbances  in  both  Eng- 
land and  Ireland,  provided,  among  other  things,  as  a 
"  possible  means  to  appease  and  avert  the  wrath  of  God 
appearing  in  these  judgments,"  that  "  whereas  public 
sports  do  not  well  agree  with  public  calamities,  nor  pub- 
lic stage-plays  with  the  season  of  humilation,  this  being 
an  exercise  of  sad  and  pious  solemnity,  and  the  other 
being  spectacles  of  pleasure  too  commonly  expressing 
lascivious  mirth  and  levity  ;  it  is  therefore  thought  fit 


58  THE    THEATRE. 

and  ordered  by  the  Lords  and  Commons  in  this  Parlia- 
ment assembled,  that  while  these  sad  causes  and  set 
times  of  humiliation  do  continue,  public  stage-plays  cease 
and  be  forborne." 

This  suppressive  law  not  sufficing,  in  1647  a  mc*re 
stringent  act  was  passed,  by  which  it  was  enacted  that 
"all  stage -players,  and  players  of  interludes  and  common 
plays  are  and  shall  be  taken  for  rogues,  whether  they 
be  wanderers  or  not,  and  notwithstanding  any  license 
whatsoever  from  the  King  or  any  other  person  or  persons 
to  that  purpose."  This  protective  measure  seemed  to 
operate  with  fair  success  for  awhile,  but,  when  Charles 
the  Second  came  in  a  few  years  later,  the  drama  was  fully 
restored  and  legalized. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that,  whenever  the  plague  made 
its  appearance  in  London,  the  drama  was  under  a  cloud ; 
upon  the  decrease  of  the  pestilence,  it  reappeared.  In 
Sir  Henry  Herbert's  Office-book  occurs  the  following 
memorandum  :  "  On  Thursday  morning,  the  23d  of  Febru- 
ary, the  bill  of  the  plague  made  the  number  of  forty-four, 
upon  which  decrease  the  King  gave  the  players  their  lib- 
erty, and  they  began  the  24th  of  Febru- 


ary,  1636.     The  plague    increasing,  the 


Stage-playing  for- 
bidden   during    the 

players  lay  still  until  the  2d  of  October, 
when  they  had  leave  to  play." 

Although  the  closing  of  the  theatres  was  rigidly  en- 
joined during  the  Great  Plague  (1666),  those  resorts  were 
re-opened  with  alacrity  as  soon  as  it  appeared  that  the 
immediate  manifestation  of  the  Divine  judgment  was 


THE   THEATRE.  59 

passing  away.  Thus  Pepys  says  in  his  diary  under  date 
Eleventh  month  2Oth  :  "  To  church,  it  being  Thanksgiv- 
ing-day for  the  cessation  of  the  plague  ;  but  the  town  do 
say,  that  it  [the  day]  is  hastened  before  the  plague  is 
quite  over,  there  being  some  people  still  ill  of  it,  but  only 
to  get  ground  of  plays  to  be  publicly  acted,  which  the 
bishops  would  not  suffer  till  the  plague  was  over."*  As 
did  Israel,  so  did  they :  "  In  the  time  of  their  trouble, 
when  they  cried  unto  Thee,  Thou  heardest  them  from 
Heaven,  *  *  but  after  they  had  rest,  they  did  evil 
again  before  Thee."  (Neh.  ix,  27,  28.) 

Regarding  Colonial  and  State  action,  it  may  serve  the 
.purpose  of  showing  the  laxity  now  prevailing  with  re- 
spect to  the  theatre,  if  the  legal  measures  early  taken 
against  it  in  Pennsylvania  only  be  cited.  By  the  Great 
Law,  as  it  was  called,  passed  the  year  that  Penn  first 
came  to  his  Province  (1682),  it  was  provided  that  "  who- 
soever shall  introduce  into  the  Province 
or  frequent  such  rude  and  riotous  sports 
as  Prizes,  Stage-plays,  Masques,  Revels, 
Bull-Baiting,  Cock-fightings,  with  such  like,  being  con- 
victed thereof,  shall  be  reported  and  fined  as  breakers 
of  the  peace,  and  suffer  at  least  ten  days'  imprison- 
ment at  hard  labor  in  the  House  of  Correction,  or  for- 
feit twenty  shillings." 

This  act  was  probably  repealed  by  the  Queen  in 
Council  prior  to  1700,  for  in  that  year  the  colonists  re- 
enacted  it.  It  was,  notwithstanding,  annulled  by  the 

*  Chambers'  Book  of  D*ys,  vol.  2,  page  720. 


The     theatre    not 
wanted  in  early  Penn- 


60  THE   THEATRE. 

royal  Council,  but  re-enacted  with  righteous  pertinacity 
by  the  Quaker  Assembly  the  same  year.  In  1709  the 
Queen's  Council  again  repealed  it;  the  Assembly,  un- 
daunted, again  enacted  it  the  following  year,  only  to  be 
met  by  a  further  repeal  three  years  later.  Nevertheless, 
the  moral  sentiment  of  the  Philadelphia  community  was 
so  strongly  opposed  to  theatres  that  it  was  not  until 
1749  that  the  first  theatrical  performances  were  given, 
and  those  were  by  an  English  company.  Their  unlawful 
procedure  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the  city  authori- 
ties, the  company  was  soon  frightened  off,  and  went  to 
New  York.  In  1759  a  permanent  theatre  was  built,*  to 
the  great  scandal  of  various  congregations,  who  forth- 
with petitioned  the  Assembly,  and  in  the  same  year 
("  where  there's  a  will,  there's  a  way  ")  an  act  was  passed 
which  made  it  an  indictable  offense,  punishable  by  a  fine 
of  five  hundred  pounds,  to  erect  any  play-house,  theatre, 
stage,  or  scaffold  for  "  acting  or  exhibiting  any  tragedy, 
comedy,  or  tragic-comedy,  farce,  interlude,  or  other 
play,"  or  to  be  concerned  in  acting  or  exhibiting  any- 
such  tragedy,  etc.  This  act  was  likewise  repealed  by 
the  King  in  council  the  next  year,  only  to  be  re-enacted 
in  the  act  of  1779,  "  for  the  suppression  of  vice  and  im- 
morality." It  is  evident  that  the  just  sentiment  of  the 
community  at  large  (and'not  that  of  the  Friends  only) 
was  opposed  to  the  play-house,  as  being  a  prime  pro- 
moter of  social  debasement,  for  the  Friends  of  the  period 

*  The  first  regular  play-house  in  the  Colonies  appears  to  have  been  set  up  at  Williams- 
burg,  in  Virginia,  only  seven  years  before  (1752). 


THE   THEATRE.  6l 

of  the  Revolution  were  unrepresented  in  the  Assembly 
by  which  this  prohibitory  law  was  enacted.* 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  play-houses,  even  those  of  the 
vilest  description,  are  everywhere  allowed  and  licensed 
in  our  towns  and  cities,  and  that  it  would  be  in  vain  to 
look  now  for  any  municipal  or  State  action,  such  as 
above  detailed,  there  is  something  pathetic  in  the  per- 
tinacity with  which  this  community  strove  again  and 
again  to  turn  aside — to  keep  away — that  leprous  invader, 
which  the  mother  country,  like  an  unnatural  parent,  en- 
deavored with  an  unrelenting  persistency  to  fasten  upon 
it.  What  were  the  stamp  act  and  the  tax  upon  tea,  as 
absolute  grievances,  to  this?  The  tax  might  be  lowered, 
or,  by  continuous,  emphatic,  and  dignified  protest,  be 
eventually  done  away  with  ;  but,  as  for  this  canker  of  the 
play-house,  assured  were  those  old-time  people  that,  did 
it  once  find  legalized  place,  the  leaven  of  its  sorcery 
would  so  work  in  the  community,  that  first  a  tolerating, 
then  an  altogether  favoring,  public  opinion  would  be 
created,  so  that  its  ultimate  dislodgment  The  {heatre  curse 
would  be  exceedingly  improbable.  Yes,  ln  Philadelphia. 
it  is  here  now,  apparently  more  strongly  entrenched, 
growing  year  by  year  more  corrupt  and  vile,  while  the 
measure  of  the  woe  that  it  brings,  who  can  fathom  ? 

*  The  Friends,  in  a  corporate  capacity,  having  several  times  unavailingly  appealed  to 
John  Penn.  the  Lieutenant. Governor,  finally  (1770)  forwarded  an  earnest  address  to 
Thomas  and  Richard  Penn,  the  Proprietors.  In  it  there  occurs  this  reference  confirma- 
tory of  the  above  statement:  '*  The  pious  and  most  considerate  of  other  religious  denom- 
inations have,  at  times,  for  some  years  past,  been  repeatedly  concerned  to  address  the 
Governors  you  have  placed  here  against  the  strolling-players  who  have  come  to  this 
city." 


62  THE   THEATRE. 

Such  large  and  continuous  accessions  to  our  popula- 
tion come  to  us  from  Europe — where  (except  in  Great 
Britain)  the  theatres  in  the  cities  are  far  more  thronged 
than  are  the  church-edifices  on  the  first  day  of  the  week 
— that,  one  after  another,  our  American  municipalities 
are  succumbing  to  this  ensnaring  custom  which  obtains 
abroad.  There  may  be  instruction  for  us  in  taking  a 
look  at  the  custom  as  prevalent  on  the  Continent  of  Europe, 
but  I  will  instance  only  the  city  of  Berlin,  giving  the 
concurrent  testimony  of  two  witnesses  which  happens  to 
be  at  hand.  One  of  these,  an  observant  American  resi- 
dent, writes  thus  to  Friends'  Review* 
Having  shown  how  lightly  esteemed  is  a 


The  theatre's  at- 
traction in  Berlin. 


day  of  rest  and  religious  observance  on  the  part  of  the 
people  generally — for  he  estimates  that  only  about 
twenty-five  thousand  in  a  population  of  a  million  frequent 
the  places  of  worship — he  proceeds  : 

"  The  principal  .streets  and  parks  swarm  with  human 
life.  Picnic  wagons,  carriages,  cabs,  omnibuses,  and  horse- 
cars  are  called  into  utmost  use,  especially  in  the  after- 
noon. Restaurants  and  beer  gardens  do  their  hand- 
somest business.  Puppet  shows,  comic  plays,  foolish 
songs,  and  horse  races  satisfy— how  easily  and  miserably 
satisfied  ! — the  uncultured  irreligious  during  the  afternoon 
upon  the  commons  and  sandy  fields  about  the  suburbs  of 
the  imperial  capital,  while  brilliantly  lighted  music  con- 
certs, balls,  theatres,  and  operas  invite  the  cultured  irre- 
ligious from  the  entertainment  of  friends  with  dinners 

*  No.  18,  current  volume. 


THE    THEATRE.  63 

and  wines  to  closing  pleasures  of  the  great  holiday — 
which  day  the  comparatively  few  in  this  great  [so-called] 
Christian  land  feel  themselves  called  of  God  to  keep  as  a 
holy  day.  The  receptions  of  foreign  ministers,  diploma- 
tists, and  eminent  personages  at  the  Royal  Court  are  the 
commonest  occurrences  of  [First-day]  afternoons,  and 
State  dinners  and  Ministerial  consultations  are  by  no 
means  infrequent.  The  Imperial  capital  is  referred  to, 
but  not  exclusively ;  for  other  cities  and  towns  imitate 
Berlin  so  far  as  they  can  in  this  respect. 

"  People  who  attend  upon  worship — I  know  such  well- 
intended  Christians — think  it  perfectly  consistent  to  spend 
the  evening  at  the  opera  or  theatre.  They  have  grown 
up  with  the  habit  and  desire  of  theatre-going,  and  many 
of  them  have  no  scruple  about  practicing  it  on  Sun- 
day evening,  and  thus  clearing  their  minds  of  any  serious 
impressions  they  may  have  gathered  from  the  morning 
worship.  And  unfortunately  they  can  readily  appeal  for 
defense  to  the  example  of  *  our  good  Emperor/  The 
Emperor  is  a  pious  man,  no  doubt;  most  people  think  so. 
He  and  his  family  usually  set  the  good  example  of  at- 
tendance on  worship  at  the  Royal  Cathedral,  and  he  is 
doubtless  a  devout  worshiper  of  God.*  But  while  he  is  at  the 

*  Without  desiring  to  unnecessarily  except  to  the  above  writer's  charitable  opinion 
of  the  Emperor's  piety — and  I  know  it  is  the  one  commonly  entertained —I  would  yet 
interpose  here  the  plea  of  Isaiah,  when  hecried  (iii,  12):  "  O  my  people!  they  which  lead 
tkeeczvist  thee  to  err,  and  destroy  the  way  of  thy  paths."  Reiterating  the  charge,  he 
says  again  (ix,  16  :  "For  the  leaders  of  this  people  cause  them  to  err  ;  and  they  that 
?  re  led  of  them  are  destroyed."  The  foremost  political  representative  of  Protestantism 
in  Germany,  in  thus  habitually  frequenting  the  play-house  on  that  day  of  the  week  com- 
monly set  apart  for  rest  and  religious  observance,  contemns  before  all  the  people  that 


64  THE    THEATRE. 

Royal  Theatre  or  Royal  Opera  on  Sunday  evening,  it 
may  be  witnessing  the  best  and  purest  play,  or  opera — 
which  is,  for  any  day,  not  exactly  commendable — would 
that  he  could  only  remember  that  thousands  of  his  subjects, 
less  informed,  less  cultured  and  even-tempered,  less  pious, 
are  attending  the  most  disreputable  theatres  and  circuses. 
A  great  many  of  this  poorer,  illiterate  class  satisfy  their 
appetites  and  baser  desires  at  beer  and  dancing  halls  on 
this  evening  of  the  week,  to  the  discomfort  and  grief  of 
better  thinking,  religious  people." 

The  testimony  of  the  other  witness,  an  editor  of  the 
Christian  Index,  accords  with  the  foregoing,  showing  us 
the  undesirable  goal  to  which  our  American  cities  are 
tending — to  which,  indeed,  some  of  them  seem  to  have 
already  attained. 

11  While  Sunday,"  says  the  narrator  in  giving  his  own 
experience,  "  is  partially  observed  until  one  o'clock,  after 
that  the  day  is  given  up  to  business  and  every  form  of 
worldly  amusements  and  enjoyments.  The  stores  are 
thrown  open,  men  go  into  the  field  to  rake  their  hay, 
visits  are  made  and  exchanged,  beer  saloons  are  crowded 
with  both  sexes,  who  sit  for  hours  sipping  their  favorite 
beverage,  while  regaled  with  delightful  music  or  amused 
with  comic  plays  or  gymnastic  performances  by  traveling 
actors.  Having  surfeited  themselves  with  eating  and 
drinking,  the  younger  part  of  the  assembly  repair  to  the 

unassailable  rule  for  the  guidince  of  Christians  of  whatever  degree — that  they  "live 
soberly,  righteously,  and  godly."  Court-preacher  Stocker  is,  himself,  authority  for  the 
statement  that  some  parishes  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  souls  in  the  great 
German  capital  have  bat  five  pastors,  and  one  of  eighty  thousand  has  only  two. 


THE   THEATRE.  65 

ball-room  and  dance  until  the  '  wee  small  hours '  of 
Monday  morn,  then  to  a  little  repose  before  beginning  the 
labors  of  another  day.  So  with  some.  Others  attend 
the  theatre  or  opera,  whose  best  pieces  and  best  actors 
are  reserved  for  and  presented  on  Sunday.  And  these 
are  attended  by  all  classes  and  conditions  of  society,  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest,  prices  being  arranged  to  suit 
each  class  and  pocket.  Here  are  found  those  who  were 
at  church  in  the  morning,  even  the  preacher  often  in- 
cluded. If  a  performance  of  unusual  excellence  is  to 
take  place  in  an  adjoining  town  or  city,  special  trains  are 
run  and  crowds  go  to  Meiningen,  for  example,  where  the 
theatre  is  most  celebrated. 

"  The  Germans  are  a  fun-loving  people,  and  have 
numerous  '  fests '  or  festivals,  lasting  usually  three  or 
four  days,  sometimes  two  or  three  weeks,  always  includ- 
ing a  Sunday,  which  is  set  apart  as  a  *  big  day.'  This  is 
particularly  true  of  the  '  Schuetzen  Fest '  (shooting  feast). 
A  large  plat  of  ground  is  owned  or  leased  by  the  society 
and  rented  out  to  be  used  for  shops,  beer  saloons,  circuses, 
menageries,  Punch  and  Judy  exhibitions,  merry-go- 
rounds,  and  all  kinds  of  shows.  While  these  places  are  well 
attended  through  the  week,  Sunday  is  the  great  day, 
when  visitors  come  from  many  miles  around,  and  the 
time  is  spent  in  indescribable  hilarity  and  excitement.  I 
remember  that  the  authorities  at  our  Philadelphia  Expo- 
sition would  not  permit  the  doors  to  be  opened  on  Sun- 
day. At  the  great  exposition  at  Nuremberg,  lasting 
several  months,  and  the  largest  ever  held  in  Germany, 


66  THE   THEATRE. 

Sunday  was  always  the  greatest  day  of  all,  when  '  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  all  seemed  in  league  to 
produce  an  effect  which  would  far  eclipse  the  gorgeous 
trappery  of  Bunyan's  '  Vanity  Fair.'  " 

Respecting  our  American  cities,  we  at  the  East  are, 
in  the  main,  happily  exempt  from  this  wholesale  misuse 
of  the  day  of  rest,  so  far  as  the  opening  of  the  theatres  is 
concerned.  In  the  West,  however,  where  the  infusion 
of  the  German  nationality  is  large,  there  appears  to  be  a 
rapid  approach  to  (with  too  frequently  an  arrival  at)  the 
undesirable  European  model.  It  is  within  the  memory  of 
the  writer  that  the  city  of  New  Orleans  was  spoken  of  as 
possessing  a  bad  pre-eminence  in  that  it  was  the  only 
one  in  the  Union  where  performances  at  the  theatres  on 
the  first  day  of  the  week  were  openly  tolerated.  A  re- 
cent writer  in  the  New  York  Independent,  who  was  a 
resident  in  the  former  city  for  some  years  previous  to 
the  breaking  out  of  the  late  Civil  War,  testifies  to  the 
same  fact. 

If  one  will  merely  glance  at  the  "  Amusements  "  por- 
tion of  a  Western  paper,  such  as  that  of  the  Chicago 
Tribune  (published  every  day  of  the  week),  he  will  find 
whole  columns  filled  with  "  Special  Sunday  advertise- 
ments "  similar  to  the  following :  One 
theatre  announces  "  The  Lights  of  Lon- 


"Sunday"  theatre- 
going  in  Chicago. 


don,"  another  promises  "A  Spectacular  Melodrama,"  at 
the  Grand  Opera  House  will  be  given  an  entertainment 
by  an  "  Opera  Comique  Company,"  at  another  place 
an  "orchestra  of  forty  performers"  may  be  heard,  at 


THE   THEATRE.  67 

still  another  the  Great  Chicago  Museum  and  Theatre 
offers  its  varied  attractions — and  so  on.  Then  there  are 
the  scores  of  still  lower  music  halls  and  play-houses, 
whether  advertised  or  not,  which  will  be  found  in  full 
blast.  Hence,  we  need  not  seek  to  probe  the  repulsive 
depths  of  wickedness  which  these  together  present,  to  be 
assured  that  a  city,  so  unmindful  of  the  lesson  of  the 
awful  fire-scourge  which  desolated  it  but  a  few  years  ago,  is 
but  heaping  together  an  accumulation  of  iniquities  which 
invite  a  sorrowful  requital  in  the  day  of  the  Lord's  visita- 
tion, when  He  shall  make  inquiry  for  the  souls  of  those 
whom  the  abominations  of  Baal  shall  have  overcome. 

If  we  turn  next  to  the  "  Queen  City  of  the  West,"  we 
observe  the  like  manifestation  of  a  spirit  of  religious  in- 
difference and  of  pleasure-seeking  in  the  midst  of  trouble, 
exemplified  during  the  calamitous  period  of  the  floods  of 
this  and  of  the  preceding  year.  In  vain  do  we  look  for 
that  general  bewailment  and  humbling  of  self  which  pros- 
trated Nineveh  of  old  at  the  preaching  of  Jonah  and  caused 
!  it  to'turh,  for  the  time  at  least,  repentant  to  the  Lord.  One 
of  Cincinnati's  papers,  the  Western  Christian  Advocate,  writ- 
ing last  year  soon  after  the  occurrence  of  the  destructive 
flood  of  that  season,  said — with  respect 
to  the  dramatic  and  musical  dissipation 

ti6S. 

of  its  people — that  "  during  the  last  few 
months  there  has  been  an  extravagant,  almost  an  insane, 
expenditure  for  the  gratification  of  this  predilection.  *  * 
But  while  all  this  is  going  on,  there  are  hundreds  of 
families  in  this  city  who  have  been  in  a  sad  state  of  pov- 


Cincinnati  and  the 
lesson  of  its  calami- 


68  THE   THEATRE. 

erty  ever  since  the  flood,  and  for  whom  it  has  been 
extremely  difficult  to  obtain  proper  food  and  clothing 
and  shelter.  *  *  The  Children's  Home,  that  not 
many  years  ago  was  the  pet  of  the  churches  of  the 
city,  has  been  lately  somehow  made  the  beneficiary  of 
a  theatrical  entertainment.  *  *  The  fact  that  now  and 
then  the  proceeds  of  an  operatic  or  dramatic  entertain- 
ment are  applied  to  a  benevolent  object  does  not,  on  the 
whole,  make  things  better.  Real  benevolence  is  not  in- 
creased ;  and  the  confused  notions  upon  the  subject  of 
theatre-going  which  are  induced  by  such  gifts  are  obvi- 
ously harmful  to  religion."  Then,  adverting  to  the 
thousands  of  flourishing  whisky,  wine,  and  beer  saloons 
permitted  in  their  midst,  the  article  concludes — "  what  a 
spectacle  all  this  to  angels  and  men — religion  struggling 
to  lift  up  and  purify ;  worldliness  and  extravagance 
seeking  to  consume  wealth  in  selfish  pleasures  and  ex- 
cesses ;  drunkenness  abounding,  and  the  dregs  of  hu- 
manity blacker  and  more  abundant." 

Hence,  whether  one  city  or  all  cities,  forgetful  of  God 
and  unreached  and  unrepentant  in  the  midst  of  His  many 
mercies  and  mercifully  directed  judgments,  be  those 
whose  awful  punishment  and  irrecoverable  fall  are  held 
up  to  us  as  that  of  the  Babylon  which  John  the  Apostle 
saw,  there  is  withal  sore  need  to  be  re-sounded  and 
needfully  kept  in  view  what  was  prophetically  uttered 
concerning  the  callous-hearted  city,  that,  because  "  she 
saith  in  her  heart,  '  I  sit  a  queen,  and  am  no  widow,  and 
shall  see  no  plagues/  therefore  shall  her  p.agues  come  in 


THE   THEATRE.  69 

one  day,  death  and  mourning  and  famine ;  and  she  shall 
be  utterly  burned  with  fire ;  for  strong  is  the  Lord  God 
whojudgeth  her.  *  *  And  the  voice  of  harpers  and 
musicians,  and  of  pipers  and  trumpeters,  shall  be  heard 
no  more  at  all  in  thee."* 

Since  the  above  was  written,  the  great  riot  at  Cincin- 
nati, with  its  accompaniment  of  killing,  maiming,  and 
burning,  and  the  attempted  release  and  threatened  lynch- 
ing of  its  "jailful  of  murderers,"  has  taken  place.  Hav- 
ing had  occasion  last  autumn  to  tarry  a  First-day  in  that 
city,  I  could  not  but  notice  the  large  number  of  open 
shops,  and  especially  the  liquor  saloons  with  wide-open 
doors,  many  of  them  filled  with  young  men  and  mere  lads. 
Taking  into  consideration,  therefore,  the  existence  of  this 
wholesale  and  unconcealed  drinking  habit,  together  with 
the  fact  that  the  theatres  and  music  halls  of  all  kinds  are 
open  every  night  of  the  week,  while  the  Bible  is  banished 
from  the  public  schools,  it  was  obvious  to  the  writer  that 
the  \*  orkers  of  evil  were  being  multiplied  there  to  an  ex- 
tremely dangerous  extent.  In  Cleveland,  again,  the  pub- 
lic school  buildings  are  being  used  as  dancing-halls, 
where  the  pupils  may  learn  the  alluring  art  of  dancing, 
in  place  of  the  Bible,  which  has  been  expelled. 

*  The  writer  is  very  far  from  desiring  to  magnify  the  seriousness  of  the  situation  either 
in  the  cities  named  or  in  any  others.  Remembering  that,  in  all  our  commercial  centres, 
there  are  found  those,  and  many  of  them,  who  are  of  "  the  salt  of  the  earth,"  he  would 
adopt  the  language  of  that  gentle-hearted  spirit  who  wrote  of  London  in  the  midst  of 
its  abounding  wickedness  : 

"  Ten  righteous  would  have  saved  a  city  once, 
But  thou  hast  manv  righteous — well  for  thee 
That  salt  preserves  thee. " 


70  THE   THEATRE. 

Now,  it  is  recorded  as  a  circumstance  indicative  of  the 
reckless  forgetfulness  of  I  leaven  which  marked  the  moral 
condition  of  the  French  populace  at  the  chaotic  period  of 
the  Reign  of  Terror,  that  they  proclaimed,  among  other 
liberties,  that  of  the  theatre ;  so  that  there  were  soon  no 
less  than  five  and  twenty  play-houses  open  in  the  city  of 
Paris  alone,  where  before  there  had  been  but  six.  It  is  a 
historical  truth  that  in  times  of  war,  when  men's  passions 
are  most  stirred,  and  in  the  years  immediately  succeeding 
a  war,  when  the  wave  of  resultant  demoralization  is  at  its 
flood,  that  the  play-houses  in  the  cities  are  to  an  excep- 
tional extent  thronged. 

So  I  think  we  may  safely  deduce  from  this  fact  that 
the  play-houses  are  not  at  those  times  (or  indeed  at  any 
time)  frequented  as  schools  wherein  to  witness  and  to  be 
improved  by  the  characterization  of  virtue,  and  that  the 
theatre  may  not  be  thence  commended  as  a  morally  safe 

Seriousness  of  the       Place  °f  reSOrt  for  th°Se  who   make   Prc- 

present  situation.  fession  of  the  Christian  name.  But  that 
which  gives  occasion  for  very  serious  present  reflection 
is,  that  in  this  time  of  profound  peace  throughout  the 
country,  and  of  numberless  blessings  showered  upon  us 
from  the  Almighty's  hand,  the  play-houses  should  be 
looked  upon  with  far  more  tolerance  than  in  the  period  of 
the  Puritan  Commonwealth  or  the  early  American  Repub- 
lic, while  at  the  same  time  they  are  probably  (upon  the 
average)  as  low  in  character  and  proportionally  as  great 
in  number  as  they  were  in  Paris  when  that  city  was 
under  the  sway  of  the  God-denying,  blood-seeking,  and 
depraved  leaders  of  the  French  Revolution. 


THE   THEATRE.  71 

Perhaps  there  may  be  no  more  fitting  place  than  just 
here  to  refer  to  that  misapplication  of  the  virtue  of  hospi- 
tality, which  under  its  name  and  cover  permits  church- 
professing  men  to  take  their  guests  to  the  theatre.  A 
Buddha- worshiping  dignitary  from  Japan  or  China  comes 
to  our  shores,  and  for  an  evening's  entertainment  is  taken 
to  a  play,  which  must  give  him  a  very  low  conception  of 
what  our  Christianity  permits.  A  blanket  Indian  from 
the  plains,  whose  children  are  being  taught  the  "  better 
religion"  at  an  agency  school,  or  perhaps  at  Carlisle,  is 
marched  to  a  variety  theatre,  where  he  is  similarly  im- 
pressed by  our  civilization  and  social  corruption.  As  to 
the  display  of  civic  hospitality  among  our  own  people,  a 
military  organization  or  Masonic  lodge  visits  a  distant  city, 
and  all  in  a  body,  as  an  essential  part  of  the  programme 
of  good  fellowship,  are  led  to  witness  scenes  upon  the 
stage  which  they  would  be  ashamed  to  introduce  to  their 
families  at  home.  Is  there  aught  of  the  grace  of  hospi- 
tality in  thus  manifesting  the  work  of  the  devil  ?  I 
remember  being  painfully  impressed  with  this  thought 
when,  several  years  ago,  a  military  company  of  young 
men  from  a  Southern  city  came  on  to  New  York,  and 
were  taken  by  their  hosts  to  theatres  where  notoriously 
immoral  plays  were  enacted. 

I  have  felt  ever  since  that  I  would  like  to  appeal  to  the 
parents,  wives,  and  sisters  of  those  visiting  Atlanta  young 
men,  and  perhaps  through  this  medium  it  may  reach  them 
even  now.  And  yet  while  I  write  sincerity  obliges  me 
to  admit,  that  there  is  a  large  field  for  the  exercise  of 


72  THE   THEATRE. 

solicitude  and  fraternal  appeal  right  in  my  own  city ; 
for,  in  an  item  of  last  month  which  is  before  me,  I  read 
how  a  junior  cricket  club  of  Philadelphia — about  two 
dozen  lads  of  from  ten  to  eighteen  years  of  age — visited 
a  similar  junior  club  of  New  York;  how  on  the  evening 
of  the  day  of  arrival  they  "  went  to  the  theatre  in  a 
body;"  how  they  played  their  cricket  match  the  following 
day,  and  "  again  visited  a  metropolitan  theatre  together." 
I  come  now  to  the  last  (and  generally  little  considered) 
division  of  my  subject,  it  being  of  the  nature  of  an  in- 
quiry as  to  how  far  the  professing 
Church  may  be  responsible  for  the  fos- 
tering and  present  prevalence  of  the  theatre  and  theatri- 
cal entertainments. 

It  appears  to  have  been  in  the  thirteenth  century  that 
the  external  part  of  religious  worship  was  loaded  down 
with  many  additions,  intended  by  their  outward  splendor 
and  magnificence  to  completely  overawe  the  multitude. 
"  Now  it  was,"  says  a  late  writer,  "  that  the  stage  was 
pressed  into  the  service  of  the  Church,  and  the  mys- 
teries and  moralities  were  written  and  placed  therein, 
illustrating  by  scenic  action  sacred  subjects."  These 
miracle  plays,  mysteries,  and  interludes  were,  as  has  been 
mentioned  before,  the  first  theatrical  per- 
formances in  the  Middle  Ages,  and 


Responsibility  of 
the  professing 
Church. 


Stage  "mysteries" 
Of  the  Middle  Ages. 


marked  the  origin  of  the  modern  European  stage.  They 
were  usually  given  in  convents,  colleges,  and  church  edi- 
fices, or  in  the  halls  of  the  nobility.  Of  these  "  mysteries" 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  Hannah  More  remarks:  "Events  too 


THE   THEATRE.  73 

solemn  for  exhibition  and  too  awful  for  detail  were 
brought  before  the  audience  with  a  gravity  more  offen- 
sive than  levity  itself." 

From  the  fifteenth  to  the  eighteenth  centuries  many 
were  the  protests  against  these  and  other  moral  abuses 
accompanying  the  Papal  rule,  but  now  again  in  this  nine- 
teenth century  of  the  Christian  era,  when  it  would  seem  as 
though  the  spiritual  ought  to  keep  pace  with  material 
enlightenment,  the  professing  Church  is  nevertheless 
making  alarming  approaches  in  the  direction  of  ritualism, 
sacerdotalism,  and  ceremonialism.  As  Howard  Crosby 
with  much  plainness,  yet  very  truthfully,  says : 

"The  Church  of  God  is  to-day  courting  the  world. 
Its  members  are  trying  to  bring  it  down  to  the  level  of 
the  ungodly.  The  ball,  the  theatre,  nude  and  lewd  art, 
social  luxuries  with  all  their  loose  moralities,  are  making 
inroads  into  the  sacred  inclosure  of  the  Church,  and,  as 
a  satisfaction  for  all  this  worldliness,  Christians  are 
making  a  great  deal  of  Lent  and  Easter  and  Good  Friday 
and  church  ornamentation.  It  is  the  old  trick  of  Satan. 
The  Jewish  Church  struck  on  that  rock  ;  the  Roman 
Church  was  wrecked  on  the  same,  and  the  Protestant 
Church  is  fast  reaching  the  like  doom." 

Upon  this  theme  of  "  church  ornamentation "  that 
gifted  writer  of  religious  poetry,  the  late  Frances  R. 
Havergal,  wrote  thoughtfully  and  discriminatingly,  not 
long  before  her  death,  in  treating  of  the  matter  of 
"  Christmas  Decorations."  Her  opinion  hereupon  is 
certainly  entitled  to  serious  attention,  especially  as  pro- 


74  THE   THEATRE. 

ceeding  from  one  who,  with  such  a  love  for  harmonic 
measures  in  language,  might  have  been  thought  likely 
to  look  with  an  indulgent  eye  upon  the  grace  of  floral 
decoration — even  in  church  edifices.  With  the  hope  that 
her  clear  expression  upon  this  subject 


may  be  heeded  in  a  direction  where  out- 


F.  R.  Havergal  on 
church  ornamenta- 
tion 

ward  show,  not  to  say  "  stage  effects," 
have  been  making  rapid  strides  during  recent  years,  I 
quote  the  following  passage  : 

"  The  experience  of  every  honest  conscience  shows 
that  when  we,  who  naturally  love  all  that  is  beautiful^ 
enter  a  church  [building]  beautifully  decorated,  the  temp- 
tation to  wandering  eyes  and  thoughts  is  just  in  propor- 
tion to  the  exquisiteness  and  elaborateness  of  the  decora- 
tions. We  have  come  to  seek  Jesus,  to  find  the  Shepherd 
*  by  the  footsteps  of  the  flock  ;'  we  want  to  commune 
with  Him,  and  we  want  Him  to  speak  to  our  hearts ;  we 
want  to  be  freshly  and  specially  '  looking  unto  Jesus'  in 
all  the  meaning  of  that  word,  looking  away  from  all  else, 
looking  unto  Him  ;  and  at  once  our  eye  is  caught  by  an 
elegant  festoon,  and  a  singularly  effective  twining  of  a 
pillar  or  picking  out  of  a  moulding,  and  a  novel  arrange- 
ment of  the  panels  of  the  pulpit.  It  is  all  lovely,  much 
prettier  than  last  year,  the  general  effect  is  so  good,  and 
so  on.  And  suddenly  we  remember  what  we  came  for, 
and  we  make  a  great  effort  to  turn  away  our  eyes  and 
fix  them  on  'Jesus  only;'  but  somehow  the  electric 
chain  has  been  severed,  the  '  other  things '  have  entered 
in ;  and  when  we  again  look  up,  to  meet  the  smile  of  the 


THE   THEATRE.  75 

1  Prince  of  Peace/  we  find  there  has  been  '  something  be- 
tween,' our  eyes  have  involuntarily  turned  away  from  the 
'  King  in  His  beauty'  to  the  passing  prettiness  of  garland 
and  wreath.  What  have  we  not  lost?" 

Although  the  tendency  of  the  times  is  toward  the  le- 
gally setting  apart  as  public  holidays  those  days 
which  certain  religious  denominations  have  habitually 
observed  in  commemoration  of  the  birth,  death,  and 
resurrection  of  the  Son  of  God,  yet  the  result  of  this  au- 
thorization has  been  (at  least  in  all  the  cities)  to  so  mark- 
edly crowd  the  theatres  and  all  pleasure  resorts,  and  so 
to  give  opportunity  for  indulgence  in  riotous  conduct  and 
licentious  revelry,  that  many  have  reached  the  conclusion 
that  the  enactment  of  these  public  holidays  was  unwise. 


Holy-days     occa- 
sions for  excess. 


One  quotation  from  a  Baptist  paper  of  a 
year  or  two  since  will  serve  for  much 
which  might  be  adduced  to  show  that  these  so-called 
"holy-days  "  are  made  the  occasions  for  hilarious  ex- 
cesses, which  are  notably  on  the  increase,  and  which 
really  make  them,  as  estimated  by  their  results,  the  most 
2/;/holy  of  all  the  days  of  the  year. 

"  Our  own  city  [Atlanta]  was  disgraced  in  a  deplorable 
manner.  We  hope  never  to  be  forced  to  see  the  like 
again.  Crowds  of  men  and  boys,  white  and  black,  surged 
through  the  streets  and  obstructed  the  sidewalks,  drink- 
ing, swaggering,  cursing,  and  blackguarding  each  other, 
flourishing  pistols,  firing  them  in  utter  disregard  of  the 
danger  to  life  and  limb,  and  otherwise  indulging  in  acts 
of  depravity  and  beastliness.  One  or  two  persons  were 


76  THE   THEATRE. 

murdered  or  mortally  wounded,  desperate  rencontres  took 
place,  many  were  bruised,  and  the  few  arrests  that  could 
be  made  under  this  condition  of  affairs  sufficed  to  fill  the 
police  station  until  cells  and  corridors  could  hold  no 
more.  The  pistol,  knife,  club,  and  whisky- bottle  ap- 
peared to  be  the  controlling  factors  of  our  communal 
system.  A  day  theoretically  supposed  to  be  devoted  to 
the  Christian  rites  of  peace  and  love  and  good-will, 
and  consecrated  to  the  advent  on  earth  of  the  Son  of 
God,  the  blessed  Redeemer  of  the  world,  was  turned  into 
a  Saturnalia,  made  foul  with  the  slime  of  orgies,  and 
blackened  with  the  records  of  atrocious  crimes." 

But,  it  may  be  objected,  all  this  iniquity  is  merely  inci- 
dental to  those  days,  and  ought  not  to  be  charged  upon 
the  professing  Church.  Without  conceding  this,  let  us 
turn  from  the  gross  and  forbidding  picture,  and  consider 
whether  the  mantle  of  the  Christian  religion  is  not  thrown 
over  practices  which,  if  seemingly  more  refined  than 
those  just  brought  to  view,  are  yet  of  so  insidious  a  nature 
that  their  influence  is  altogether  in  opposition  to  true, 
spiritual  religion. 

It  cannot  now  be  consistently  claimed  in  many  quarters 
that  the  end  sought  in  associating  together  as  religious 
congregations  is  simply  the  worship  of  God  and  the  "  com- 
munion of  saints."  The  Church  must  provide  entertain- 
ment as  well.  Now,  from  the  church 

Church  theatricals.  r 

fair,  oyster  supper,  and  strawberry  festi- 
val, to  amateur  operatics  and  the  stage,  the  step  has 
been  proven  to  be  not  a  long  one.  Thus,  the  first  annual 


THE    THEATRE.  77 

report  of  a  church  "  guild"  sets  forth  "that  during  the  past 
year  six  entertainments  were  given  at  the  club-house,  a 
series  of  tableaux  in parish  school  building,  and  a  theat- 
rical entertainment  at  the  Amateur  Drawing  Room.  These 
entertainments  increased  the  membership  of  the  club  and 
will  be  continued  during  the  present  year." 

Again,  we  find  pool  and  billiard  tables,  etc.,  provided 
for  clubs  of  workingrnen  under  the  care  of  churches,  and 
series  of  public  games  between  the  clubs  announced — 
with  theatricals  following.  At  Saratoga,  early  in  the 
year,  a  fancy  dress  ball  for  the  benefit  of  a  "  Rectory 
Fund  "  was  given,  followed  by  a  grand  banquet  at  mid- 
night, and  (according  to  a  secular  paper)  the  resuming 
of  the  dancing  thereafter  and  its  continuation  until  a  late 
hour.  The  Guide  to  Holiness,  upon  this  matter  of  "  stand- 
ing in  the  mixture,"  aptly  says  : 

"  The  discovery  has  been  made  that  the  Church,  in  order 
to  hold  its  young  people  to  its  altars,  must  provide  for  the 
natural  craving  for  amusement.  It  used  to  be  held  that 
Jesus  and  His  work  furnished  ample  resources  to  meet 
the  loftiest  aspirations  of  a  saved  soul.  *  *  The  holidays 
furnish  occasion  for  the  ingenious  and  progressive  sons 
and  daughters  of  Zioti  to  make  full  proof  of  their  new 
vocation.  They  are  now  busy  preparing  dramas,  come- 
dies, farces,  suppers,  fairs,  and  entertainments  of  every 
conceivable  sort  They  are  spending  '  their  wretched 
strength  for  naught.'  So  far  from  preventing  attendance 
upon  a  full-grown  theatre  and  opera  by  these  efforts,  they 
are  whetting  the  appetite  of  the  people  therefor.  *  *  It 


"7S  THE  THEATRE. 

is  eating  out  the  life  of  the  Church — it  is  destroying  our 
young  people,  rendering  them  unfit  for  all  true  spiritual 
exercise.  Give  your  money  liberally  for  every  laudable 
Church  object — but  stand  aloof,  positively,  in  the  holidays 
and  evermore,  from  the  unholy  festivals." 

Without  desiring  to  unduly  pursue  this  concluding 
portion  of  my  topic,  I  believe  it  is  nevertheless  of  the 
first  importance  that  it  be  clearly  shown  wherein  the  pro- 
fessing Church,  in  this  matter,  obstructs  and  stumbles. 
No  reversal  of  the  popular  estimate  of,  and  attendance 
upon,  the  play-house,  need  be  looked  for  while  the 
Church,  with  mistaken  charity  and  complaisance,  casts 
its  mantle  over  levity  and  folly,  instead  of  pointing  the 
way  of  light  and  holiness. 

The  views  which  have  been  just  declared  upon  the 
subject  of  entertainment  and  amusement-hunting  by 
and  on  behalf  of  the  (outward)  Church  are  convincingly 
and  at  length  set  forth  in  a  pamphlet  of  61  pages  lately 
issued  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication.*  The 
opinion  is  therein  expressed  (corroborating  what  has 
been  said  before)  that  the  Church  is  now  rather  regarded 
as  a  convenient  medium  of  social  intercourse  and  social 
pleasures  than  as  an  educator  of  the  religious  affections, 
the  author  quoting  in  support  of  this  view  from  an  essay 
/which  has  elicited  considerable  remark)  upon  "  Certain 
Dangerous  Tendencies  of  American  Life"  (Boston,  i88o\ 
"  The  Church,"  according  to  the  essayist,  "  is  now  for  the 


*  The  Sociable,  the  Entertainment,  and  the  Bazar.    By  Alfred  E.  Myers,  Pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Ovvasco,  N.  Y. 


THE    THEATRE.  79 

most  part  a  depository  of  social  rather  than  religious  in- 
fluences. Its  chief  force  or  vitality  is  no  longer  religious. 
*  *  *  por  a  very  large  class  the  Church  furnishes 
opportunity  for  a  pleasant  social  life,  which  is  in  no  way 
different  from  the  social  life  of  amiable,  intelligent  people 
out  of  the  Church  :  that  there  is  nothing  distinctively  re- 
ligious about  it."* 

It  should  be  premised  that  the  Presbyterian  writer  is 
solicitous  not  to  be  understood  as  in  .any  wise  discour- 
aging the  commingling  of  those  comprising  a  congrega- 
tion in  any  right  way.  Indeed,  there  are  few  things 
more  helpful  to  the  young  who  yearn  for  a  better  life  than 
the  life  they  may  have  previously  led,  than  the  chaste  yet 
cheerful  conversation  of  the  spiritually  dignified  and  dedi- 
cated servants  of  the  Lord,  who  give  evidence  that  they 
look  for  a  "  city  which  hath  foundations,  whose  builder 
and  maker  is  God." 

Having  pointed  out  that  a  first  result  of  the  Church 
"  sociable  "  is,  that  instead  of  social  distinctions  with  their 
attractions  and  repulsions  being  submerged,  it  causes 
them  to  "rise  into  a  conspicuousness  "  which  they 
would  not  otherwise  possess  ;  that  "  the 
sociable  not  only  does  not  help  the  spir- 

itual  growth  of  the  Church,  but  by  a  fac- 

titious bustle  and  stir  diverts  attention  from  spiritual  de- 

ficiencies," he  next  proceeds  to  show   how  the  sociable 


The  Church  socj. 


*  The  Illustrated  Christian  Weekly  tersely  defines  the  distinction  when  it  say^  :— 
"Christian  workers  find  the  social  spirit  active  and  strong  among  them,  but  it  comes 
as  an  incident,  not  as  the  end  of  their  practical  fellowship." 


80  THE     THEATRE. 

commonly  merges  into  the  entertainment,  merry-making, 
and  feast,  all  showing  a  forsaking  of  the  simple,  apostoli- 
cal Church  economy.  Now,  the  entertainment  appears 
to  have  become  possible  through  a  reversal  of  the  Scrip- 
ture prerogative  of  those  who  should  be  as  "  nursing 
fathers  and  mothers," — these,  instead  of  leading  the  flock, 
satisfying  themselves  with  the  thought  that  as  religion 
should  be  made  palatable  to  the  young  it  is  expedient  to 
push  them  to  tl)e  front  in  all  activities,  especially  in 
amusements.  Of  numerous  instances  cited  by  the  author, 
it  v/ill  suffice  to  quote  the  following : 

"  A  church  which  has  recently  received  a  number  of 
young  people  into  active  membership  is  the  scene  of  a 
humorous  entertainment.  A  stage  is  laid  over  the  pulpit 
platform  and  over  the  place  lately  occupied  by  the  com- 
munion-table, and  there  the  young  converts,  with  others, 
are  encouraged  to  perform  for  the  benefit  of  the  church. 
At  another  entertainment  a  group  of  young  gentlemen  go 
through  the  form  of  selling  at  auction  a  young  lady  to 
the  highest  bidder.  At  another  of  these  diversions,  be- 
fore people  of  education  and  refined  taste,  a  professional 
musician  renders  a  roystering  bacchanalian  song  with 
startling  energy.  Clergymen  and  their  wives  figure  in 
costume  as  George  Washington  and  Martha  Washington. 

One  minister  reads  humorous  selections; 

another  sings  comic  songs  ;  others  make 


The  Church   walk- 
ing with  the  world. 


droll  speeches.  The  pulpit  is  sometimes  removed,  and 
Santa  Claus  and  his  chimney  occupy  the  platform.  Again, 
in  just  such  a  position,  along  with  other  attractions,  we 


THE    THEATRE.  8 I 

have  an  organ-grinder,  with  a  wealthy  middle-aged  citi- 
zen sustaining  the  dignified  role  of  the  monkey  passing  the 
hat  for  pennies.  The  superintendent  of  a  Sunday-school, 
chalked  and  painted,  poses  as  an  ancient  king,  and  teachers 
amuse  the  audience  with  a  semblance  of  stage  embraces. 
Under  the  auspices  of  a  Sunday-school  a  college  glee- 
club  provokes  great  merriment  by  its  bold  allusions  to 
the  truths  which,  in  the  school,  are  taught  as  tremendous 
verities.  In  the  *  Old  Folks'  Concert '  solemn  hymns  and 
revered  tunes  are  sung  in  a  drawling  style  to  raise  a 
laugh."  At  an  "  exhibition  in  the  lecture-room  of  a 
prominent  church  *  *  a  worthy  gentleman  of  remark- 
able sobriety  of  deportment  and  visage,  and  excellent  in 
the  prayer-meeting,  played  '  the  sneezer/  and  another 
Christian  gentleman  feigned  intoxication,  with  his  fair 
and  temperate  face  smeared  with  red  blotches  to  assist 
the  illusion."  All  these  things,  be  it  said,  for  the  cause 
(so  claimed)  of  Christ,  yet  all  so  demoralizing  in  their 
tendency,  and  withal  so  revolting  to  reasoning  minds, 
that  only  the  obligation  of  a  required  duty  can  be  excuse 
for  their  presentation  here.  I  refrain  from  taking  up  the 
cognate  subject  of  the  Bazar,  with  its  trivial  and  mis- 
chievous accompaniments,  supplying  the  place  thereof 
with  these  apt  lines  of  the  author  of  "  The  Church  Walk- 
ing with  the  World," — 


"  And  fairs  and  shows  in  the  halls  were  held, 
And  the  world  and  her  children  were  there. 
And  laughter  and  music  and  feasts  prevailed 
In  the  place  that  was  meant  for  prayer." 


82  THE   THEATRE. 

r  Without  controversy,  these  things  can  only  operate  to 
deaden  the  spiritual  life  of  the  participants,  and,  in  the 
case  of  those  who  exhibit  an  aptitude  for  smartly  per- 
forming their  parts,  to  draw  them  really  to  the  stage  as 
actors  and  actresses.  Instances  of  such  a  result  are  not 
rare.  It  must  hence  be  apparent  that,  so  far  from  fes- 
tivities and  entertainments  preserving 


the   younger   members    of  the    Church 


Deadening  effects 
of  these  entertain- 
ments. r  . 

from  the  contaminations  of  the  world, 
there  will  rather  happen,  as  the  writer  from  whom  I  have 
quoted  concludes — "  a  graduation  from  the  church 
drama  to  the  better-appointed  and  better-acted  drama  of 
the  theatre,  and  from  the  somewhat  tame  evening  enter- 
tainment in  the  church-parlor  to  the  ball  which  is  not 
held  in  the  interest  of  the  church." 

The  problem,  therefore,  seems  naturally  to  narrow 
itself  down  to  this:  that  if  avowed  Christians  of"  respec- 
tability" would  have  the  vile  variety  theatres  of  the 
poorer  classes  removed  from  our  cities,  such  persons  can- 
not consistently  give  countenance  to  the  play-houses 
of  the  so-styled  "  better  sort ;"  and  if  they  would  have  the 
low  music-halls,  with  their  tawdry  and  lewd  accessories 
abolished,  they,  on  their  part,  should  have  naught  to  do 
with  the  elegant  opera,  its  alluring  ballet  and  unsavory 
plot.  As  discerned  by  the  Apostle  Peter,  "  the  time  is 
come  that  judgment  must  begin  at  the  house  of  God," 
and  this  discernment  and  resultant  separation  (it  may  be 
added)  should  additionally  extend  to  the  picture  and  art 
galleries,  the  highly  spiced  drawing-room  fiction,  the 


The     problem 
briefly  stated. 


THE  THEATRE.  83 

private  wine-cellars  and  billiard  rooms,  the  stock  jobbing, 
etc.,  of  the  well-to-do  and  presumably  respectable  pro- 
fessed Christians,  if  any  headway  is  to  be 
made  against  the  common  drinking 
and  gambling  habits,  and  the  cheap,  demoralizing  litera- 
ture of  the  day.  It  is  not  evident  to  the  writer  how  any 
other  conclusion  is  to  be  arrived  at,  and,  with  this  per- 
suasion before  him,  he  would  ask  attention  to  the 
thoughtful  words  of  three  widely  separated,  but  coin- 
ciding witnesses,  touching  the  matter  of  holy  fidelity  : 

"  To  do  all  our  duty,"  says  the  late  Charles  G.  Finney, 
"  we  must  rebuke  sin  in  high  places.  Can  this  be  done 
with  all  needed  severity  without,  in  many  cases,  giving 
offense  and  incurring  the  charge  of  censoriousness  ?  No  ; 
it  is  impossible — and  to  maintain  the  contrary  would  be 
to  impeach  the  wisdom  and  holiness  of  Jesus  Christ.'* 

"  The  law  of  the  spiritual  life,"  says  a  late  writer  in  the 
Independent,  "  is  separation.  God's  people  first  separated 
from  the  dead  religious  world  at  Jerusalem.  The  testi- 
mony of  the  early  Church  was  one  of 
life  for  a  world  to  come.  It  gathered 
both  its  testimony  and  its  life  about  a  risen  Christ.  It 
did  not  study  to  make  peace  with  the  world  or  how  to 
adjust  itself  to  its  surroundings,  but  it  steadily  testified 
against  it,  and  called  upon  the  people  of  God  to  break 
with  it." 

Finally,  to  quote  one  who  appears  to  be  a  clergyman 
of  the  English  Established  Church,  the  author  of  the 
brochure,  "  Modern  Christianity  a  Civilized  Heathenism," 


Three  witnesses  to 
holy  fidelity. 


84  THE    THEATRE. 

— "Until  the  world/'  he  says,  "is  wholly  converted, 
which  nobody  yet  pretends,  His  [Christ's]  people  must 
ever  wage  with  it  a  deadly  war.  There  can  be  no  peace 
between  two  such  armies  as  the  soldiers  of  Christ  and  the 
servants  of  the  devil.  His  disciples  must  fight  as  their 
Captain  fought,  making  themselves  [if  need  be]  an 
offense,  a  nuisance,  an  abhorrence  to  every  man  who  is 
not,  like  them,  an  open  confessor  of  His  name." 

Therefore,  in  dealing  with  theatrical  entertainments 
and  similar  stumbling  devices  within  the  pale  of  the  pro- 
fessing Church,  as  also  with  the  theatre  itself,  and  all 
that  is  allied  to  it,  in  society  and  the  world,  it  may  be 
morally  profitable  for  those  concerned  to  bear  in  mind 
the  uncompromising  example  set  by  the  Master  in  cleans- 
ing the  Temple  of  that  which  defiled  it.  In  Christ  we  see 
infinite  compassion,  even  unto  death,  for  sinners,  but  not 
a  moment's  parley  with  sin.  Instructive,  and  of  good 
warrant,  likewise,  for  our  guidance,  is  the  narrative  of  the 
crafty  procedure  of  Zion's  active  enemy,  Tobiah  the  Am- 
monite, who,  in  the  absence  of  Nehemiah,  the  Governor, 
so  far  overcame  with  his  guile  even  the  High  Priest  him- 
self as  to  have  plausibly  persuaded  the 


latter  to  prepare  him  "  a  chamber  in  the 


Two   examples   to 
follow  in  dealing  with 

courts  of  the  house  of  God."  No  doubt 
Tobiah  was  a  man  of  polished  speech,  who  could  min- 
ister abundant  entertainment  to  his  hearers,  yet  when 
Nehemiah  heard  of  the  evil  that  had  been  done — how 
like  an  odious  barnacle,  the  world,  in  the  person  of 
the  Ammonite,  had  fastened  itself  upon  the  very 


THE   THEATRE.  85 

house  of  God — it  "  grieved  "  him  "  sore/'  insomuch  that 
he  summarily  *'  cast  forth  all  the  household  stuff  of 
Tobiah  out  of  the  chamber/'  Would  that  all  magis- 
trates and  others  in  authority  who  have  to  deal  with 
theatres  and  theatrical  entertainments  might  emulate  the 
godly  zeal  (according  to  knowledge)  of  Nehemiah,  the 
righteous  Governor. 

In  concluding  this  essay,  perhaps  I  can  do  no  better 
than  to  revive  the  language  of  the  Address  issued  by 
Frankford  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends  to  its  members 
(1880),  wherein  it  is  said  : 

"  In  much  tenderness  we  beseech  you,  dear  young 
people  of  every  class,  to  bring  this  whole  question  of 
amusement  and  recreation  to  your  loving  Saviour.  With 
His  teachings,  as  set  forth  in  the  New 
Testament,  before  you,  and  by  the  light 
of  His  grace  in  your  hearts,  pray  for  wisdom  and 
strength,  and  you  will  be  given  clearly  to  see  what  it  is 
and  who  they  are  that  are  truly  serving  God,  and  what 
and  who  are  serving  Him  not ;  what  will  make  for  your 
own  soul's  peace,  and  what  will  hinder  it ;  and  wherein 
your  true  safety  lies." 


A  safe  conclusion 
recommended. 


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